266 Caricography- 
yellowish towards maturity, compressed, sub-convex above, 
distinctly two-toothed, scabrous; pistillate scale ovate, 
acute, or shortly awned, yellowish green, and about half the 
leneth of the fruit. 
Though the fig. of this species in Schk. is excellent, the 
plant is not easily distinguished from its related species by 
the common descriptions merely, because the pistillate is 
not described with sufficient particularity. It varies much 
too, in its lower spikelets. Instead of single spikelets, we 
often find several spikelets on a branch, which occupies the 
place of the lower ones, and becomes their common ra- 
chis. 
Grows in moist soil; flowers in the latter part of May,— 
not very abundant. 
23. C. disperma. (Mihi.) 
Spiculis superne masculis subternis sub-approximatis 
erectis, infima bracteata; fructibus ovatis obtusis nervosis 
plano convexis glabris, squama ovata acuta submucronata 
duplo longioribus. 
Culm 6—12 inches high, slender, triangular, scabrous 
above, leafy towards the base; leaves linear, narrow, chan- 
nelled, shorter than the culm, subradical with short sheaths, 
lower ones abbreviated; spikelets 2—-4, generally 3, rath- 
er near, two-fruited, with a staminate floret between and 
above them, pretty erect, the lowest, and sometimes the 
two lower, supported by an ovate bract, often ending in a 
long slender, scabrous leafet; staminate scale lanceolate, 
white; fruit ovate or oblong, nerved, obtuse, scarcely beak- 
ed, entire at the orifice; pistillate scale ovate, acute or 
shortly awned. white, with a brown keel, and about half the 
length of the fruit. Occasionally a spikelet has only one 
fruit, with the staminate flower on its side and a little above 
nig and sometimes we find three fruit in a spikelet, and di- 
verging. Stigmas 2. ; 
This new species appears different from any one descri- 
bed by Schk. Itis related to his C. gracilis, but very dif- 
ferent from his C. Joliacea, a variety of the same, both of 
which are staminate below; it has not been described by 
any botanist of our country. 
