LIV. CYPERACE^. 875 



SEEDS pendulous from the top of the cell ; testa coriaceous, hard, crustaceous, smooth 

 or tubercled, rarely membranous ; hilum naked or strophiolate ; albumen fleshy, 

 copious. EMBRYO at the end of the seed opposite to the hilum, and pressed against 

 the outside of the albumen, lenticular, antitropous. 



PKINCIPAL GENEEA. 



Restio. Thamnochortus. Lyginia. Anthochortus. Calopsis. 



Elegia. Lepyrodia. Leucoplocus. Willdenovia. 



Restiacece are closely allied to Eriocaulonea (which see). They approach Junceee in their rhizome, 

 knotty stem, alternate sheathing leaves, glumaceous 3-seriate perianth, 3-1-celled ovary, capsular fruit 

 and fleshy albumen ; and are distinguished by their split sheath, 3-2-stamens, orthotropous ovule and 

 lenticular embryo outside the albumen. They have also some affinity with Cyperacets in habit, diclinism, 

 number of stamens, &c. ; but Cyperacecc differ in the leaf-sheaths not being split, the perianth being 

 replaced by bristles or scales, the 2-celled and basifixed anthers, the erect anatropous ovule, farinaceous 

 albumen, more or less included embryo, &c. 



Restiacea: all live south of the equator : the greater number are South African [and Australian] ; 

 some inhabit Madagascar and Australia. None have yet been observed in the New World. 



Restiacece possess no known property, or other use than that made by savages of their stems to thatch 

 their huts. 



CENTROLEPIDE^E, Desvaux [Desvauxiacece, Lindl.], originally annexed to Restiacece, 

 then separated, and again united to this family, differ only in the perianth being 

 reduced to one or two sub-opposite glumes ; their andrcecium is monandrous ; the 

 ovary consists of one or more irregularly connate 1-celled carpels, each with a 

 filiform style ; and the fruit is a membranous utricle, opening laterally by a longi- 

 tudinal slit. 



GENERA. 



Centrolepis. Aphelia. Alepyrum. Gaimardia. 



\Centrolepide(K inhabit sandy places and swamps in Australia, and the mountains of New Zealand 

 and Tierra del Fuego.J 



LIV. CYPERACEJS. 



(CYPEROIDE^E, Jussieu. CYPERACE^E, Br., D.O.) 



FLOWERS glumaceous, $ or diclinous. PERIANTH 0, or replaced by bristles. 

 STAMENS hypogynous, usually 3-2; ANTHERS basifixed. OVARY 1-celled, l-ovuled; 

 STYLES 32 ; OVULE basilar, anatropous. ACHENE. SEED albuminous. EMBRYO 

 minute, included or exserted. STEM usually angular. LEAVES Grass-like, sheath very 

 rarely split. FLOWERS in spikes. 



Usually Grass-like HERBS, with rhizome shortened or creeping, stoloniferous, 

 sheathed by foliar scales, sometimes tuberous at its extremities. STEMS angular or 

 cylindric, without nodes, or septate within (Eleocharis geniculata, articulata, &c.), 

 often hypogeal, last internode elongated and epigeal, simple, or very rarely branched, 

 solid when young, fistukir when full grown. LEAVES alternate, springing from the 

 nodes, equitant in 2-3 rows ; petiole in a closed or very rarely split sheath, sometimes 

 with no blade, but elongated and mucronate ; blade linear or ribbon-like, or chan- 

 nelled, with parallel nerves and transverse venules, margin entire, often scabrid ; 



