287 



lucres shorter than the umbel; spikelets of a greenish-colour, all 

 puberulous ; glumes with blood-red streaks with transmitted light. 

 Watery places in the Deccan. Syn. Scirpus cuspidatus, Roth. nov. 

 sp. p 31, who has described it well, though he did not see the 

 minute setulse between the filaments. 



10. FIMBRISTYLIS, Vahl. 



1. MILIACEA, Vahl. Erium. ii, 287. Culms cespitose, com- 

 pressed, quadragonal, leafy at the base, glabrous ; leaves distichous, 

 narrow-linear ensiform ; sheaths compressed ; umbel irregularly 

 supra-decompound, with 3 to 4 rays ; involucre and involucels 

 2-leaved, short, subulate ; spikes subglobose, central ones sessile ; 

 scales broadly ovate, rounded and blunt at the apex. Syn. Scirpus 

 miliaceus, Linn. sp. i, 75 ; Isolepis miliacea, Presl. ; Trichelostylis 

 miliacea, Nees in Wight. Bot. 103; Scirpus tetragonus, Poir. ; 

 Roxb. Fl. Ind. i, 232, with many others. 



2. QUINQUANGULARIS, Kunth. Culms cespitose, 5-angled, 

 glabrous, leafy at the base, sometimes leafless ; leaves linear, flat, 

 acute above, scabrous on the margin ; sheaths compressed, disti- 

 chous ; umbel irregularly supra-decompound ; involucre about 5- 

 leaved, setaceous, short; spikes ovate-acute, central ones sessile; 

 scales keeled, broadly ovate mucronulate. Syn. Scirpus quinquan- 

 gularis, Vahl. Enum. ii, 279 ; Roxb. Fl. Ind. i, 233; Trichelostylis 

 quinquangularis, N. ab E. in Wight Bot. 104 ; Scirpus pentagonus, 

 Roxb. Fl. Ind. i, 221 ; Scirpus plantagineus, Roxb. Herb. 



3. F ARGENTEA, Vahl. Enum. ii, 294. Glaucous ; culms cespi- 

 tose, filiform, triangular, glabrous, leafy at the base ; leaves linear 

 filiform, canaliculate, rough on the margin ; spikes several, capitate, 

 clustered, sessile, cylindric, oblong, acute ; involucre 3-leaved, 

 very long ; scales ovate acute, 3-nerved on the back. Syn. Scirpus 

 argenteus, Rottb. Gram. 51, 1. 17, fig. 6; S monander, Rottb. 

 Gram. 50, t. 14, fig. 3 ; S nanus, Poir. Encycl. vi, 759. 



4. F FERRUGINEA, Vahl. Enum. ii, 291. Culm erect, com- 

 pressed, triangular above, smooth ; sheaths pubescent ; leaves short, 

 narrow-linear, roughish on the margins ; umbel simple or compound ; 

 rays very unequal, with 1 to 5 spikelets ; involucre 1 to 2-leaved, 

 shorter than the umbel ; spikelets ovate oblong, acute, the central ones 

 sessile ; scales ovate-elliptic, mucronate under the apex, ferruginous, 

 a little hoary and puberulous above ; stamens 3; style bifid ; seed 

 obovate, umbonate, dark-coloured, shining. Generally about I foot 

 high. Banks of the Deccan streams. This is supposed with good 

 reason to be the Indian form of the Mexican and Bourbon plant, 

 and is synonymous with F arvensis of Vahl. 



