54 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



glurae embracing the spike «is in S. uniglumis. Stigmas usually 3 but 

 sometimes only 2. Nut darker coloured and smaller than in S. 

 palustris, triquetrous or sublenticular, according as there are 3 or 2 

 stigmas, more naiTOwed towards the base than in S. palustris and with 

 the tubercle-like base of the style broader. Bristles usually 5 or 6, 

 about as long as the nut. 



Flower often viviparous, especially when the plant grows in water. 



Many-stemmed Cluh-rush. 

 French, Seirpe a tiges nomhreuses. German, Vielhalmiger Bied. 



Section IL— B.'EOTHRYON. Dietrich. 



Spike solitary, terminal, destitute of a leafy bract at the base, the 

 lowest glume rarely -with a short leaflike point. Hypogynous bristles 

 3 to 6. Nut not cro-wned with a tubercle ; the base of the style 

 slender, separated from the nut by an articulation. Stem slender, 

 leafless, the basal sheaths leafless, or the upper ones with a short 

 setaceous lamina. 



SPECIES IV.-SCIRPUS PAUCIPLORUS. Lightf. 



Plate MDLXXXIX, 



Beich. Ic. Fl. Germ, at Helv. Vol. VHI. Tab. CCXCIX. Figs. 707 and 708. 



Billot, Fl. Gall, et Germ. Exsicc. No. 49. 



S. Bseotbryon, Ehrh. Kunili, Ennm. Plant. Vol. 11. p. 158. 



BiEotliryon pauciflonim, Bietr. Spec. Plant. Vol. II. p. 90. 



(H)Eleochai-is pauciflora, Link; Lindl. Syn. Brit. Fl. p. 281. 



(H)E. Bffiothryon, Nees, in Linntea, Vol. EX. p. 294. 



Limnochloa Baeothryon, Beich. Fl. Germ. Excurs. p. 78. 



Rootstock very shortly creeping, producing a small tuft of stems at 

 the apex only, and long leafless stolons. Stems erect, rather slender, 

 terete, deeply striate, leafless ; basal sheaths 2 to 3, leafless, the upper 

 one truncate. Spike small, oval-ovoid, compressed, few-flowered. 

 Glumes lanceolate, subobtuse, reddish-brown, with narrow pale 

 scarious margins ; the two lowest glumes larger and broader than 

 the others, the lowest ^ to f the length of the spike, and wholly sur- 

 rounding its base, hooded on its back, with the midrib not reaching 

 the apex. Hypogynous bristles 3 to 6, retrorsely hispid. Stigmas 3. 

 Nut turbinate, triquetrous, very finely punctate-striate, acuminated 

 into the slender subulate base of the style. 



In wet places and moors, usually where the rock or its sjjlinters are 

 near the surface. Not uncommon in hilly districts, but most frequent 



