360 WEEDS AND USEFUL PLANTS. 



Rod (or rhizoma) creeping extensively, and sending up numerous suckers , the fibrous 

 branches often terminating in tubers the size of a pea. Culm 1 to near 2 fee,t high, trique- 

 trous, very smooth. Leaves 9-18 inches long, and 2-3 lines wide, keeled, smooth or 

 slightly scabrous on the margin, yellowish green. Umbel rather erect, the rays 1 - 2 or 

 3 inches long. Involucre usually 3-4-leaved. Spikes half an inch to three-quarters in 

 length, a little compressed, obtuse when mature, somewhat distichously arranged on the 

 common rachis, the lowest ones often in pairs or fasciculate ; scales oblong, rather acute, 

 nerved, pale tawny. Styles 3, united in one, distinct at summit. Akene triquetrous, ob- 

 long, minutely punctate. 



Banks of streams, pastures, and cultivated grounds : New England, west and south. 



Obs. This species is, fortunately, rather rare, in the Northern and Mid- 

 dle States ; but it is said to be a troublesome plant, in the South. 



3, C, rotun'dus, L., var. Hy'dra, Gray. Ehizoma creeping, tuber- 

 iferous ; umbel mostly simple, 3 - 4-rayed ; involucre 2 - 3-leaved, about 

 as long as the rays ; spikes distichous ; spikelets 4 - 9 on each ray, lance- 

 linear, acute, much compressed, 10 - 40-flowered, dark chestnut-purple. 

 HYDRA CYPERUS. " Nut-grass," of S. Carolina. " Coco-grass." ? 



Rhizoma, creeping, its branches ending in tubers nearly half an inch in diameter 

 Culm 3-8 and 12 inches high, triangular, smooth, naked. Leaves all radical, shorter than 

 the culm, about 2 lines wide, acute, slightly channelled, often recurved, somewhat glau- 

 cous. Involucre sometimes shorter than the umbel. Rays of the umbel 2-3 inches long, 

 erect or slightly spreading. Spikes nearly an inch long, alternate and distichous along the 

 upper part of the rays, the scales closely imbricated, bright chestnut-color with a green 

 keel, not nerved, slightly mucronate. Styles 3, united below, distinct at summit. Akene 

 triquetrous. 



Sandy fields, sand drifts, along the Sea-coast : Virginia to Florida, and Arkansas. PL 

 All summer. 



06s. This is stated to be one of the greatest pests of the Southern 

 Planters. It seems to be an inhabitant of all the 4 quarters of the globe. 

 Mr. ELLIOTT gives the following account of it : " This grass (?) is be- 

 coming a great scourge to our planters. It shoots from the base of its 

 stem a thread-like fibre, which descends perpendicularly 6 to 18 inches, 

 and then produces a small tuber. From this, horizontal fibres extend in 

 every direction, producing new tubers at intervals of 6 or 8 inches, and 

 these immediately shoot up stems to the surface of the earth, and throw 

 out lateral fibres to form a new progeny. This process is interminable, 

 and it is curious to see what a chain or net-work of plants and tubers can, 

 with some care, be dug up in a loose soil. The only process, yet discov- 

 ered, by which this grass can be extirpated, is to plough or hoe the 

 spots in which it grows every day through the whole season. In their 

 perpetual efforts to throw their leaves to the light, the roots become ex- 

 hausted and perish, or if a few appear the next spring, they can easily 

 be dug up." J. S. SKINNER, Esq., in a letter written during an excursion 

 to the South, in the spring of 1846, sent to me an imperfect specimen of 

 a Cyperaceous plant, which I suspect to be this species ; and says of 

 it, " I send you inclosed a spear or shoot of the vilest of all pests, the 

 Coco-grass, which has taken possession of, and caused to be abandoned, 

 some of the best Sugar estates in Louisiana. Of all things it is said to 

 be the most tenacious of life ; and nothing serves so well to propagate 

 it, as to plough and replough, with a view to destroy it." 



