50 CyperaceCB. , \Fimbristylis. 



in., almost filiform, obtusely angled, grooved ; 1. shorter but 

 hardly broader than the stem, 2V in. broad or less, coriaceous, 

 striate above, dotted with the superficial cells beneath, margins 

 recurved, spinulose, sheaths glabrous with membranous 

 margins ; spikelets solitary or 2-5 in an irregular umbel, 

 sessile on very slender pedicels, §— § in. long, ovoid, obtuse, 

 terete, pale; glumes all deciduous, or the lower sometimes 

 longer and produced into a green elongation of the stem, 

 rhachilla slender, deeply closely pitted, squarrose with the 

 persistent brown ovate acute lips of the pits ; glumes loosely 

 imbricate, orbicular, iV~i in. broad, tip rounded, apiculate or 

 cuspidate, very concave, membranous, with 5-7 very slender 

 central veins ; stam. 3, anth. acute ; nut stipitate, obovate, 

 2V in. long, compressed, biconvex, smooth, snow-white or 

 discoloured, style about twice as long as the nut, dilated and 

 villous above the middle, base subglobose, stigmas 2, short. 



Var. j3, bispicata, Trimen. F. bispicata, Nees in Wight, Contrib. 97 

 (partim). Scirpus distachyus, Herb. Rottl. 



'Rootstock stout, creeping, stem slender, 6-8 in., deeply 

 grooved, base thickened, sometimes pyriform ; spikelets one or 

 two, sessile, with the stem produced beyond them ; glumes 

 coriaceous, brown, glaucous (as if puberulous), style villous 

 throughout, nut immature. 



Sandy places in dry and intermediate regions ; rather rare. Kurune- 

 gala ; Trincomalie (Ferguson). Var. (3, Kalpitiya (Trimen, Aug. 1833).- 

 Fl. July-Dec. 



Also in India, Trop. Asia generally, and N. Australia. 



The specimens of var. (3 are in too imperfect a state for satisfactory 

 determination. Its reference to F. bispicata is by Dr. Trimen. Clarke r 

 in Fl. B. I nd., refers bispicata as a synonym to schcenoides. The descrip- 

 tion is from Trimen's specimens. 



6. F. dichotoma, Vahl, Enum. ii. 287 (1806). 



Scirpus dichotomies, L., var., Retz. Obs. iv. 12. F. pallescens, Nees;. 

 Thw. Enum. 348. Trim. Syst. Cat. Ceyl. joi. C P. 3758. 



Fl. B. Ind. vi. 635. Rottb. Descr. and Ic. t. 13, f. 1 {Scirpus). 



Annual, root-fibres capillary ; stems 2— 10 in., densely tufted,, 

 filiform, grooved, smooth ; 1. shorter than the stems, very 

 narrow, T V in., tapering to a fine point, quite smooth, sheath 

 puberulous or pilose; umbel laxly compound or decompound, 

 1-2 in. diam., rays few or many, up to 1 in., suberect ; bracts 

 filiform, shorter or longer than the umbels ; spikelets \-\ in., 

 solitary on the rays, ovoid, subangular, many-fid., pedicels 

 \-\ in., rarely more, erect or spreading, lowest glume more or 

 less bracteiform, glabrous or puberulous, rhachilla stout, 

 angular, covered with large pits ; glumes loosely imbricate, 

 all, or all but the lowest, fertile, lower -^ T in., broadly ovate,. 



