60 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



SPECIES IX.-SCIRPUS SETACEUS. Linn. 



Plate MDXCIV. 



Reich. Ic. Fl. Germ, et Helv. Vol. VTII. Tab. CCCI. Figs. 711 and 712. 

 Billot, Fl. Gall, et Germ. E.xsicc. No. 1774. 



Isolepis setacea, B. Br. Hook. & Am. Brit. Fl. ed. viii. p. 493. Kuntli. Ennm. 

 Plant. Vol. II. p. 193. 



Caespitose. Stems numerous, setaceous, rather firm, cylindrical, 

 striate, leafless; the basal sheaths very obliquely truncate, or termi- 

 nated by a more or less elongate setaceous lamina. Spikes 2 or 3 

 (more rarely 1), pseudo-lateral, sessile or subsessile, ovate-ovoid, shorter 

 than the lowest bract. Glumes subobtuse, olive or greenish, with a 

 broad dark brown patch between the midrib and the margins towards 

 the apex. Stigmas 3. Hypogynous bristles absent. Nut obovate- 

 tui'binate trigonous, mucronate, brown, with longitudinal clathrate ribs. 



In damp places (especially such as are inundated in winter), on 

 sandy and gravelly soil. Rather common, and generally distributed. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Perennial. Summer, Autumn. 



Very similar to S. Savii, but with the stems fewer, thicker, and 

 stifFer, and commonly shorter; for though I -have seen them 8 inches 

 long, they are more frequently 3 to 5 inches. Spikes very similar in 

 size and shape, but with the glumes darker, with only the midrib and 

 margins green or pale. Nut a very little larger than that of S. Savii, 

 darker and redder brown, -with deep longitudinal furrows, which leave 

 raised ribs between them : these ribs are transversely divided by slender 

 cross lines. 



This plant is of a deeper green than S. Savii, and does not assume 

 the sickly yellow tint which prevails in that plant late in the season. 



Bristle-like Club-rush. 



French, Scirpe setaee, German, Borstenfiirmige Simse. 



Section V.— HOLOSCHCENUS. Unk. 



Spikes numerous, collected into rounded heads arranged in a simple 

 or compound umbellato-corymbose panicle, which is pseudo-lateral 

 from being in the axil of a foliaceous bract, which resembles a con- 

 tinuation of the stem. Glumes slightly concave. Hypogynous bristles 

 none. Nut not crowned by a tubercle ; base of the style not dilated. 

 Stem stout, leafless ; basal sheaths closed by a network of fibres, termi- 

 nating in a short stiff channelled lamina. 



