CTPEEACE^. 549 



2. Creeping Scirpus. Scirpus palustris, Linu. 

 (£ug. Bot. t. 131. Meocharis, Brit. Fl.) 



Rootstock often creeping to a considerable extent, with numerous erect 

 stems, often densely tufted, and not 6 inches high at the edge of the water, 

 more distant, and a foot higli or more when in the water ; all leafless, 

 except one or two short sheaths at their base, without leafy tips. SpLkelets 

 solitary and terminal, oblong, 4 to 6 hues long. Glumes numerous, closely 

 imbricated, brown, with scarious edges, and green on the midrib ; the outer 

 bract only diftering from the glumes in being rather larger. Hypogynous 

 bristles usually 4. Style 2-cleft. Nut obovate, crowned by a little conical 

 tubercle, being the persistent base of the style. 



On the edges of pools and watery ditches, throughout the northern hemi- 

 sphere, and in some parts of the southern one. Frequent in Britain. Fl. 

 all summer. Specimens with the outer bract rather broader, so as almost 

 to enclose the base of the spike, have been distinguished as a species under 

 the name of S. uniglumis. 



3. Many-stalked Scirpus. Scirpus multicaulis, Sm. 



(Eng. Bot. t. 1187. Eleocharis, Brit. Fl.) 

 Very much like the last, and' perhaps a mere variety, but smaller, form- 

 ing dense tufts, with a few creeping offsets ; the stems more slender, often 

 slightly decumbent at the base, many of them barren and leaf-hke. Spikelet 

 rather smaller. Styles usually, but not always, 3-cleft, the nut becoming 

 obovoid and triangular. Hypogynous bristles usually 6. 



In similar situations to the creeping 8., and often mixed with it, but not 

 so much in the water ; recorded chiefly from northern and western Europe. 

 Not unfrequent in Britain. Fl. summer. 



4. Fe^^-floTvered Scirpus. Scirpus pauciflorus, Lightf. 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 1122.) 



In appearance much Uke a starved, slender state of the two last species, 

 whilst the nut is nearer that of the tufted S. Stems slender, and many 

 of them barren, not 6 inches high, the sheaths without leafy tips. Spikelet 

 small, not containing above 5 or 6 flowers. Hypogynous bristles, 3-cleft 

 style, and obovoid nut, as in the many-stalked S., but the thickened base 

 of the style is considerably narrower, forming a tapering point to the nut, 

 not a conical tubercle. 



In wet mud, and the edges of pools, in northern and central Europe, 

 and Russian Asia, and the mountains of southern Europe and the Caucasus, 

 but scarcely an Arctic plant. In Britain, more frequent in Scotland, Ire- 

 land, and northern England than in the south. Fl. summ,er. 



5. Tufted Scirpus. Scirpus ceespitosus, Linn. 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 1029.) 

 Stem 6 inches to a foot high, densely tufted, covered for an inch or two 

 at their base with closely imbricated sheaths, the outer ones brown, the 

 inner ones green, with narrow, leafy tips, 1 to 2 hues long. Spikelets soli- 

 tary and terminal, ovoid, brown, scarcely above 2 lines long ; the outer 

 bract like the glumes but larger, with an almost leafly tip, abovit the 

 length of the spikelet. Flowers usually 6 to 8 in the spikelet. Hypo- 

 gynous bristles about 6. Style 3-cleft, the persistent base very miuute. 



