CYPERACE.E. (SEDGE FAMILY.) 491 



TKXBI VI CARICE.3S. Flowers monoecious in the same (androgynous) or in separata 

 spikes, or sometimes dioecious. Proper perianth none. Acheniuui enclosed 'in a sac 

 (perigynium which answers to a bractlet or pah* of bracelets), lenticular or triangular. 



16. CAKEX. Fertile flowers without a bristle-form booked appendage projecting from the sac. 



1 CYPEKUS, L. GALIXGALE. 



Spikes many - few-flowered, flat or rarely terete, variously arranged, mostly 

 in clusters or heads, which are commonly disposed in a simple or compound 

 terminal umbel. Scales 2-ranked ( their decurrent base often forming margins or 

 wings to the joint of the axis next below), deciduous when old. Stamens (1, 

 2, or mostly) 3. Perianth none. Style 2 -3-cleft, deciduous. Achenium len- 

 ticular or triangular, naked at the apex. Culms triangular, simple, leafy at 

 the base, and with one or more leaves at the summit forming an involucre to the 

 umbel. Peduncles unequal, sheathed at the base. (Kurreipoc, the ancient 

 name.) 



{ 1. PYCREUS, Beauv. Style 2-cleJl: achenium flattened : sjnkes flat, many- 

 flowered : only (he lowest scale empty. (Root of all our species flbrous and appar- 

 ently annual.) 



1. C. flavescens, L. Stamens 3; spikes becoming linear, obtuse, clus- 

 tered at the end of the 2-4 very short rays (peduncles) ; scales obtuse, strauo- 

 yellow; achenium shining, orbicular. Low grounds, mostly near the coast. 

 Aug. Culms 4' -10' high: spikes 5" -8" long. Involucre 3-leaved, very 

 unequal. (Eu.) 



2. C. diandraiS, Torr. Stamens 2, or sometimes 3 ; spikes lance-oblong, 

 scattered or clustered on the 2 - 5 very short or unequal rays ; scales rattier obtuse, 

 purple-brown on the margins or nearly all over; achenium dull, oblong-obov ate : 

 otherwise much like the last. Var. CASTANEUS, TOIT. (C. castaneus, Bigd.\ 

 is only a form with browner scales. Low grounds ; common. Aug., Sept. 



3. C. Allttitllii, Torr. Stamens 2 ; spikes lance-linear, acute, very flat 

 ('-!' long), crowded on the few very short (or some of them distinct) rays; 

 scales oltlong, yellowish-brown, rather loose ; achenium oblong-oborate, very Uunt, dull. 



Salt or brackish marshes, Massachusetts to Virginia, and southward. Aug. 



Culms 4' -12' high. C. minimus'? Nutt., the C. Cleaveri, Torr., $- ed. 1, ia 

 a depauperate condition of this, with a 1 -leaved involucre, and only one or two 

 spikes ! 



4. C. flaviconillS, Michx. Stamens 3; spikes linear (4" -8' long), 

 spiked and crowded on the whole length of the branches of the several-rayed 

 umbel, spreading ; scales ot-al, very obtuse, yellowish and broienish, broadly scarious- 

 (whitish-) margined; achenium olwvate, mucronate, blackish; culm stout (l-3 

 high); leaves of the involucre 3 - 5, very long. Low grounds, Virginia and 

 southward. July - Oct. 



\ 2. PAPYRUS, Thouars. Style 3-defl : achenium triangular : stamens 3 : 

 spikes many-flowered, flatfish joints of the a.cis margined by a pair of more 01 

 less free scales, which remain after the proper scale falls away : otherwise as in $ 3. 



