44 Cyperacets. \Kyllinga. 



anth. long or short ; style long or short, base not swollen, 

 stigmas 2, capillary; nut strongly laterally compressed, smooth, 

 sometimes apiculate by the style-base. — Sp. 33 ; 6 in Fl. B. Ind. 



Nut orbicular, style hardly any . 



. 1. 



K. 



CYLINDRICA. 



Nut oblong or obovate, style long. 









Keel of 2 upper glumes winged above . 



2 



K. 



MONOCEPHALA. 



Keel of glumes not winged. 









Rootstock short 



3- 



K. 



TRICEPS. 



Rootstock long, creeping. 









Ripe nut yellow-brown 



• 4- 



K. 



BREVIFOLIA. 



Ripe nut black 



• 5- 



K. 



MELANOSPERMA 



i. K.. cylindrica, Nees in Wight, Contrib. 91 (1834). 



Thw. Enum. 345. C. P. 3754. 



Fl. B. Ind. vi. 588 (not given for Ceylon). 



Glabrous or sparsely hairy, rootstock very short ; stems 

 tufted, 4-12 in., slender, base not swollen ; 1. usually shorter 

 than the stem, \-\ in. broad; heads of usually three spikes, 

 median f-§ in. long, oblong or cylindric, lateral much smaller 

 hemispheric or globose, rhachis squarrose with the persistent 

 lowest glumes ; bracts 3-4, up to 3 in. long ; spikelets about 

 ■Y2 in -', glumes: I. lanceolate, i-veined, II. orbicular, hyaline, 

 2-3-veined on each side, III. and IV. very broadly ovate, 

 with short thickened recurved tips, green speckled with brown, 

 many-veined, keels not winged, IV. rather the longest, with 

 fewer veins ; anth. small ; nut orbicular or very broadly 

 obovoid, red-brown, style very short. 



Moist low country; rare. The C. P. specimens are all I have seen; 

 from Haldummulla in the Central Province (Trimen). Fl. April. 

 Also in India, Singapore, Africa, Australia. 

 The very short style is characteristic of this species. 



2. K.. monocephala, Rottb. Descr. et Ic. 13 (1773). Blottu- 

 tana, 6". 



Moon, Cat. 7. Thw. Enum. 345. C. P. 3753. 

 Fl. B. Ind. vi. 588. Rottb. 1. c. t. iv. f. 4. 



Sparsely hairy; stems 2-12 in., usually solitary, erect 

 from a creeping rootstock ; 1. shorter than the stem, yo~6 m - 

 broad ; spikes solitary or 3, the lateral very small, median 

 ^~l in. diam., rhachis naked or pitted after the fall of the 

 spikelets, the lowest glumes being for the most part deci- 

 duous; bracts long, narrow; spikelets T V in., i-fld. ; glumes: 

 I. lanceolate, very variable in length and venation, acuminate, 

 with sometimes a capillary point ; II. broadly ovate, tip 

 rounded, veins few; III. and IV. green, sparingly speckled 

 with brown, cuspidately acuminate, keel dorsally winged 

 about the middle, wings spinulose, veins 6-8 in. each, upper 

 longest, more or less falcately incurved ; anth. small ; nut 



