34 Cyperacece. \Cypems. 



slender, T V"i in. broad, finely acuminate, I -veined ; umbel 

 simple, rays 3-6, up to 3 in. long, bearing 4-6 terminal spikes 

 of spreading pale spikelets, or spikes very short and spikelets 

 crowded in a solitary terminal head; bracts 3-5, finely acumi- 

 nate, longest up to 4 in., margins smooth; spikelets \-\\ by 

 §-£ in., oblong or linear, 20-60-fld., reddish-green, rhachilla 

 stout, angular, closely scarred, wings oblong ; glumes \ in. 

 long, closely imbricate, ovate, obtuse, dorsally keeled and 

 cuspidate from above the middle, coriaceous, sides membranous, 

 3-5-veined, cusp green, laterally compressed ; stam. 3, anth. 

 linear, muticous; nut \ the length of the glume, globosely 

 obovoid, obtusely trigonous, greyish-black, style as long as the 

 nut, stigmas 3, capillary. 



Damp grassy places in the low country ; very common. Fl. Feb., &c. 

 All warm countries (except Australia). 



This species rather belongs to the division with stellately spreading 

 spikelets. 



32. C procerus, Rottb. Descr. et Ic. 29 (1773;. 



Thw. Enum. 343. C. P. 3752. 



FL B. Ind. vi. 610. Rottb. 1. c, t. 5, f. 3. 



Perennial; rootstock short, stout, stoloniferous, stolons 

 elongate, clothed with elongate acuminate scales, bulbil- 

 liferous ; stem 3-4 ft, deeply triquetrous or 3-winged, 

 angles scaberulous ; I. very long, triquetrous, \-\ in. broad, 

 acuminate, thickly coriaceous or spongy, flattened towards 

 the base, margin scabrid, sheath broad, compressed, mem- 

 branous ; umbel 3-6 in. diam., compound, primary rays 3-7, 

 3-5 in. long, stout, and secondary bearing loosely corymbose 

 spikes of 5-10 long spreading compressed spikelets, rhachis of 

 spikes rather stout, flexuous, angular, glabrous or angles 

 puberulous ; bracts 2-5, longest up to 12 in., much thinner 

 than the 1., margins almost smooth ; spikelets distant, divari- 

 cate, \-i\ by ^-\ in., linear or linear-oblong, acute, 10-50-fld., 

 straw-col'd. or red, shining, rhachilla striate, tetragonous, 

 minutely notched, winged here and there ; glumes rather 

 loosely imbricate, orbicular, cymbiform, muticous, dorsally 

 5 or more veined, mottled with red-brown, sides pale, margins 

 hyaline ; stam. 3, anth. large, oblong, muticous ; nut half as 

 long as the glume, broadly obovoid, mucronate, trigonous, 

 almost black, style nearly as long as the nut, stigmas 3, capillary. 



Wet places, especially in the dry region. Colombo ; Anuradhapura ; 

 Batticaloa. Fl. Oct-March. 



India, Cochin China, Malaya. 



Closely allied to C. fiilosus, differing in the more open infl., larger 

 spikelets, and nearly or wholly glabrous rhachilla of the spike. 



