Cyperacee.) FLORA OF TASMANIA. 85 
Gen. VI. EL/EOCHARIS, Br. 
Spicula solitaria, terminalis, elongata, erecta, nuda; squamis undique imbricatis, conformibus, plerisque 
fertilibus ; seta Aypogyne 4-12 (rarius 0). Nue lenticularis v. trigona; síylo basi bulboso, cum ovario 
articulato, deciduo; stigmatibus 2-3.—Herbe paludose ; culmis aphyllis, basi vaginatis, 
A very common genus of marsh plants, found in all parts of the world, and many of the individual species 
have also a very extended geographical distribution. —All are leafless, erect herbs, with tufted, generally terete 
culms, sheathed at tif base, and simple, erect, lanceolate or cylindrical, solitary, terminal spikelets. Scales nume- 
rous, imbricated all round, most or all of them fertile. Flowers of three stamens and one pistil, surrounded by 
hypogynous bristles. Style with a bulbous base, jointed on to the nut, deciduous; stigmas 8. (Name from «Mos, 
a marsh, and xaıpw, to delight in.) 
1. Eleocharis sphacelata (Br. Prodr. 244) ; robusta, culmis articulatis intus vacuis, spicula cylin- 
drica, squamis elliptico- v. obovato-oblongis margine sphacelatis.—Z7. N. Zeal. i. 269. (Gunn, 1404.) 
Has. Abundant in lagoons near Formosa, etc.—(Fl. Nov.) 
Distris. Throughout Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. 
Culms 2-4 feet high, 4-4 inch in diameter, hollow, with numerous transverse septa. Spikelet 2 inches long. 
Scales blunt, broadly-oblong or elliptic-oblong, with brown edges. Nut very broadly obovate, compressed, with 
thickened margins. Hypogynous bristles about eight, covered with retrorse sete. 
2. Eleocharis gracilis (Br. Prodr. 224); culmis gracilibus inarticulatis ceespitosis, vagina ore 
truncata, spica cylindracea, squamis ovato-lanceolatis, setis hypogynis 4-8 ovario longioribus, nuce com- 
pressa, stigmatibus 3.—E. mucronulata, Nees, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. vi. 46. An E. palustris, Z., var. ? 
(Gunn, 573.) ; 
Var. 8; squamis acutis.—E. acuta, Br. /. c. 
Has. Abundant in marshy places throughout the Island.—(Fl. Oct.-Jan.) (v. v.) 
Disrris. Extratropical Australia and New Zealand. 
I can find no characters to separate this plant from the European Æ. palustris, except the three stigmas, and 
the occasional presence of a small mucro to the mouth of the sheath; this mouth is either transversely or obliquely 
truncate in both European and Tasmanian specimens. The scales are more often obtuse than acute, and the hypo- 
gynous bristles, though constantly eight in Tasmanian specimens, vary from four to eight in Australian and New 
Zealand ones. The nut is broadly obovate, pale yellow-brown, with rounded sides, in which respect and its more 
robust habit it differs from what I have (in the “New Zealand Flora”) assumed to be Brown's E. gracilis, and 
which has a trigonous nut. 
Gen. VII. ISOLEPIS, Br. 
Spieule parve, 1 v. plures (rarius 1), terminales v. prope apicem culmi aggregate, sessiles, breves, 
ovato-cylindracez ; squamis undique imbricatis, plerisque floriferis. Sete hypogyne 0. Nux compressa 
v. trigona; stylo deciduo, basi non incrassato.— Herbs (7zsmanie I. nodoso excepto parve) cespitose ; 
culmis Zrigonis teretiusculisve, basi foliatis v. vaginatis ; foliis angustis, subulatis subgramineisve. 
A very common and puzzling genus, found in almost all parts of the world, but most abundantly in the tem- 
perate and colder latitudes. The species are extremely difficult to discriminate, being very variable, and their cha- 
racters minute and not easily expressed. About sixteen Australian species are known to me, including probably 
the eleven which are described in Brown's * Prodromus,' though I am unable to determine some of the latter with 
confidence. The genus differs from Scirpus only in habit and in wanting hypogynous bristles; almost all are small, 
tufted, usually marsh plants, with subulate radical leaves. (Name from wos, equal, and dems, a scale.) 
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