514 CYPERACEuE. (SEDGE FAMILY.) 



or recurved ; spikes small, ovate, 3-9 in a cluster ; scales spotted ; scales of 

 the perianth very thin, the nerves at length free and bristle-like below ; nut ob- 

 long, contracted into a short neck. (Kyllingia maculata, Michx.) Springy or 

 miry places, Florida to North Carolina. July -Sept. Culms 4' -8' high. 

 Spikes l"-2" long, green. 



6. FUIRENA, Rottb. 



Spikes many-flowered. Scales imbricated in many rows, awncd at the apex. 

 Perianth consisting of three petal-like stalked scales alternating with as many 

 bristles. Stamens 3. Style 3-cleft. Nut 3-angled, raised on a stalk, and pointed 

 with the persistent base of the style. Culms terete, jointed. Spikes single or 

 clustered, lateral and terminal. Scales hairy. 



1. F. scirpoidea, Vahl. Rhizoma thick and creeping; culms slender; 

 leaves reduced to pointed sheaths, smooth ; spikes 1-3, terminal, ovate, sup- 

 ported by a small bract-like involucre ; scales obovate, 9-nerved, pointed with a 

 short erect awn ; stalks of the oval barely pointed petal-like scales longer than 

 the hispid bristles. Wet sandy places, near the coast, Florida and Georgia. 

 May Sept. 1J. Culms 1 high. 



2. F. squarrosa, Michx. Culms clustered, smooth, or pubescent near 

 the summit ; leaves flat, linear or linear-lanceolate, the margins, like the lower 

 sheaths, hairy ; spikes oblong, in lateral and terminal clusters ; scales oblong- 

 obovate, with the long pale awn recurved ; petal-like scales ovate, acute ; bristles 

 as long as the stalk of the obovate nut. Var. HISPIDA. (F. hispida, Ell.) 

 Leaves, sheaths, and upper portion of the culm bristly-hairy ; petal-like scales 

 acuminate ; bristles nearly as long as the nut. Swamps, Florida, and north- 

 ward. July -Sept. \ Culms - 2 high. Leaves 2' -5' long. Terminal 

 cluster occasionally compound. 



7. ELEOCHAEIS, R. Brown. SPIKE-RUSH. 



Spikes many- (rarely 2-4-) flowered. Scales imbricated on all sides of the 

 rachis, or somewhat 2-ranked, the lowest usually empty, bract-like, and persistent. 

 Perianth of 3 -8 bearded bristles, occasionally wanting. Stamens 1-3. Style 

 2 - 3-cleft. Nut compressed, biconvex, or 3-angled, crowned with the persistent 

 jointed base of the style (tubercled). Commonly perennials, with creeping 

 rootstocks. Culms jointless, leafless, sKeathed at the base, bearing at the apex a 

 single spike. 



$ 1. ELEOCHARIS PROPER. Spikes many -flowered : scales imbricated in several 



rows. 

 * Spikes cylindrical, scarcely thicker than the soft cellular culms : nut biconvex, pitted 



or wrinkled in longitudinal lines. 



H- Scales rounded, thick and faintly nerved: style 3-cleft: bristles 6, sparingly bearded 

 or smoothish, as long as the nut. (Limnochloa, Nees.) 



1. E. equisetoides, Torr. Culms stout, terete, knotted by cross parti- 

 tions, roughish ; scales pale, round-ovate, obtuse or the upper acute, scarious on 



