46 Cyperacece. \Fimbristylis. 



creeping rootstock; 1. shorter than the stem, linear, ~-l in. 

 broad, acuminate; spike solitary, globose or ovoid, about \ in. 

 diam., rhachis naked after the fall of the spikelets ; bracts leaf- 

 like, up to 4 in. long; spikelets \ in. long, 1-2 -fid. ; glumes 

 5, I. lanceolate, acuminate, 2-3-veined, II. suborbicular, 

 4-6-veined, III. and IV. green, speckled with yellow-brown, 

 strongly cuspidate, keels sometimes aculeolate, III. very 

 broad, many- veined, IV. \ longer, oblong, obtuse, 5 -veined, 

 V. much smaller, narrowly oblong, hyaline, 3-veined; anth. 

 long, linear, with a long subulate tip ; nut obovoid-oblong, 

 black, top narrowed into a truncate beak, style as long as the 

 nut. 



Montane zone, 4-6000 ft. ; common. 



Also in Nilgiri Mts., Malaya, S. Africa, Madagascar. 



I have not seen ripe nuts in Ceylon specimens. — J. D. H. 



4. FIMBBISTYLXS, Vahl 

 Annual or perennial herbs; 1. towards the base of the 

 stem, rarely reduced to sheaths, narrowly linear or filiform; 

 inflf terminal, of umbelled or capitate, bracteate, spikelets, 

 bracts long or short; spikelets terete angular or compressed, 

 many-fid.; glumes imbricate all round the rhachilla, or the 

 lower distichous, very rarely all distichous {F. fulvescens), 

 glabrous, very rarely pubescent, deciduous, lower 1-3 and 

 sometimes the upper empty; fl. bisexual, bristles o; stam. 1-3, 

 fil. flat, anth. linear, obtuse, acute, or tipped with a subulate 

 process; nut obovoid, biconvex or trigonous, very rarely 

 cylindric (F. tetragona), style long, flattened or slender, 

 glabrous, pubescent or villous, deciduous with its dilated base 

 leaving no scar on the nut, stigmas 2 in the biconvex nuts, 

 3 in the trigonous, usually filiform and elongate. — Sp. about 

 170; 58 in Fl. B. Ind. 



The wings of the rhachilla of the spikelets in Fimbristylis are here 

 (as in Cyperus) portions of the base of the glumes. Each glume in most 

 cases provides two such wings, one from each side of the midrib, from 

 which they often separate by a clean semicircular line of dehiscence. 



Stigmas 2. 



Spikelets solitary, terminating the stem, 

 rarely 2 or 3 in ftolytrichoides (see 

 also exceptional specimens in other 

 groups). Eleocharoides. 

 Leaves o, or very short. See also fer- 

 ruginea. 

 Nut cylindric 1. F. tetragona. 



