58 ENOIJSII BOTANY. 



the back, not lon<;er than the others, about half as long as the spike, 

 the base of ■which it does not entirely surround, not hooded at the 

 base, with the midrib extending to the apex. Hypogynous bristles 

 none. Stigmas 2. Nut small, obovate-lenticular, plano-convex, 

 smooth, not acuminated, abruptly mucronate from the short slender 

 subulate, persistent base of the style. 



In ditches, jionds, and splashes. Xot ver)' common, but univir- 

 sally distributed. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Perennial. Summer. 



Stems varying according to the depth of the water in which they 

 grow,, often slightly dichotomously branched. Leaves | to 1^ inch 

 long; the lamina much longer than the sheaths. Peduncles 1 to 2 

 inches long, each terminated by a single spike about -^ inch long. 

 Xut about -j'y inch long, very pale olive, the base of the style brown. 



When growing on mud from which the water has dried, this plant 

 becomes densely ciespitose, producing numerous tufts of leaves, but 

 no stems ; the leaves in each tuft sheathe each other, and resemble 

 those on the floating stems of the ordinary state of the plant : they are 

 true leaves, not imperfectly developed stems, as Andersson supposes. 



Scirpus parvulus has been considered a small variety of S. fluitans. 

 The two, however, have nothing in connnon, except the small spikes 

 and pale glumes. 



Floating Club-rush. 



French, Scirpejiottant. German, Flutliende Simse. 



Section IV.— ISOLEPIS. Link. 



Spikes 1 to 4, sessile or shortly stalked, in an umbel which is more 

 or less pseudo-lateral from being in the axil of a foliaceous bract 

 resembling a continuation of the stem. Glumes somewhat folded 

 longitudinally, strongly keeled. Hypogynous bristles none. Nut not 

 ci'owned with a tubercle; the base of the style not dilated. Stem 

 very slender, leafless, the basal sheaths with short subulate leaves. 



SPECIES VIII.— S C I R P U S S A V 1 1. Seh. & Maur. 



Plate MDXCIII 



Ueich. Ic. El. Germ, et Helv. Vol. VIII. Tab. CCCI. Fig. 714. 



Billot, Fl. Gall, et Germ. Exsicc. No. 1560. 



Isolepis Savii, Eooh. & Am. Brit. Fl. ed. viii. p. 493. 



S. Saviana, ScJnilten, Mant. II. p. tiS. 



Caespitose. Stems numerous, lililbrm, weak, cylindrical, striate, 

 leafless; the basal sheaths terminated by a more or less elongated 



