218 CYPERACE^. Scirpns. 



Var. OCCidentalis. Scales often pubescent, especially on the midvein, usually 

 pale with tint' brown lines : filaments at length broad and exserted : bristles not ex- 

 serted : nutlet broadly obovate, rounded at the summit, terminating abruptly in a 

 rather short beak. 



The species is widely distributed, under several forms, being found in Europe and Asia, tem- 

 perate and tropical North America, the Sandwich Islands, New Zealand and Australia. Only the 

 variety is found in California, ranging from San Diego County to British Cohunbia and eastward 

 to Texas and Colorado. In common with the next it is familiarly known under the name of 

 "Tule," occupying large areas in overflowed bottom-lands and marshy places throughout the 

 State. It is sometimes 8 to 12 feet high and an inch or more in diameter at base. Tl7e eastern 

 forin (S. validus, Vahl), of the Atlantic States (from Lake Winnipeg to Florida) and the West 

 Indies, has ratlier smaller and broader spikelets, shorter and narrower filaments, bristles at lentrth 

 exserted, and a narrower nutlet somewhat attenuated at top. ° 



5. S. Tatora, Kunth. Very closely resembling the last, but readily distin- 

 guished by the bristles of the perianth, which are 2 to 4, very dark brown, stout or 

 somewhat flattened and retrorsely plumose with short curved hairs, shorter'than the 

 nutlet : scales brown, not pubescent : filaments broad, rarely exceeding the nutlet, 

 which is narrowly obovate, shortly attenuate into the stout beak. — Enum. ii. IGG. 

 Elt/trospermum Calif ornicum, C. A. Meyer, Cyp. Nov. 7, t. 2. ^S'. ?yKirius, Presl, 

 Eel. Hsenk. i. 193, not Spreng. Malachochcete rijxtria, Nees & Meyen ; Gay, FL 

 Chil. vi. 176, t. 7. S. psetidotriqueter, Steud. Cyp. 86. 



From the Sacramento Valley to Mexico and eastward to Louisiana ; also in South America from 

 Peru and Chili to Brazil. 



•»— -I- yStcm acutely triangular or triquetrous. 



++ Stem leafless or tvith a single short leaf at base: itivoliccral bract stout and 



triangular. 



6. S. Olneyi, Gray. Stem stout, 2 to 7 feet high, from a stout running root- 

 stock, more or less deeply triquetrous or wing-angled, continued as involucre an inch 

 or less beyond the inflorescence: spikelets 2 to 12 in a crowded sessile cluster, 

 oblong-ovate, acute or rather obtuse, 2 to 6 lines long, usually short : scales thin,' 

 brown, broad and obtuse, glabrous or slightly ciliate : anthers shortly acute : bristles 

 4 or 6, rather shorter than the narrowly obovate plano-convex prominently beaked 

 nutlet: style 2-cleft. — PL Lindh. 30. S. pungens, Eenth. PI. Hartw. 27. S tri- 

 queter (?), Torr. Pacif. R. Rep. iv. 153. 



From San Yva.WQisco {Bigdow) to San Diego and across the continent ; Mexico, Gregg, Hartvcg. 



■H- -H- Stem somewhat leafy : leaves obversely flattened, channelled : involucral 

 bract more slender and channelled. 



7. S. pungens, Vahl. Stem usually slender, 1 to 4 feet high, acutely triangu- 

 lar : leaves 1 to 4, shorter than the stem ; the more or less channelled bract 1 to 4 

 inches long : spikelets 1 to 6, closely crowded, ovate to ovate-oblong : scales brown, 

 often very dark, broadly ovate, emarginate and usually conspicuously tipped with a 

 straight awn : anthers narrowly acuminate : bristles 2 to 6, shorter than the obovate 

 plano-convex prominently beaked nutlet, which is somewhat narrowed at base, 

 nearly 11 lines long: style 2- rarely 3-cleft. — Boeck. 1. c. 708. >^. badius, Presl,' 

 Ptel. Haenk. i. 193. S. Rothii, Hoppe ; Reiclienb. 1. c, t. 304. 



Less frequent than the preceding in California, though common in the Atlantic States : Arroyo 

 del 1 uerto {Brewer); Monterey, near the sea {Hacnke, Brewer); Mono Lake and the Great Salt 

 Lake, and southward into Mexico ; also in South America and the West Indies, in Australia and 

 the western Mediterranean region. ' 



* * Involucre foliaceous, spreading : stems triangular, leaf y at base : leaves flat. 

 -I- Spih'lets large, few, in a sessile chister or sparingly umbellate, nifous. 



8. S. maritimus, Linu. Stems stout, 1 to 3 feet high, from running often 

 tuherifennis roijtstocks : leaves e(pialliiig or exceeding the stem ; involucral bracts 



