52 Cyperacece. \Fimbristylis. 



8. P. Trimeni, Hook. f. 



F. <zstivalis, var. major, Trim. Syst. Cat. Ceyl. PL 101. C. P. 3943 (in 

 part). 



A dwarf, densely tufted annual, root-fibres capillary ; 

 stem 3-6 in., filiform, grooved; 1. shorter than the stem, very 

 narrow, flat, -rnh m - broad, sheath short, open, glabrous or 

 pubescent; umbel simple or compound, 1-1J in. broad, rays 

 few or many, -J-f in. long, filiform, spreading, bearing few 

 remote pedicelled spikelets; bracts capillary, much shorter 

 than the rays; spikelets, loosely corymbose, 4tJ in. long, 

 narrowly ovoid or oblong, acute, terete or obscurely angled, 

 many-fid., pale brown, lowest glumes narrower, longer, 

 cuspidate, often bracteiform, keel hispidulous, rhachilla 

 slender, pitted; glumes closely imbricate, tVtV i n -> nearly 

 straight, oblong, 1 -veined, cuspidate, cusp not £ the length of 

 the glume, green, sides hyaline; stam. 1-2, with rather short 

 anth. ; nut ¥ V in-> stoutly stipitate, orbicular, obovoid or sub- 

 globose, turgidly biconvex, margins rounded, smooth, pale 

 straw-col'd., style rather longer than the nut, hairy, base 

 bulbous, hispid, stigmas 2, short. 



Colombo (Ferguson, April 1867). Growing with F. astivalis 

 (Trimen). Fl. April. 



Closely allied to F. cestivalis, but umbels larger, laxer, spikelets \ in. 

 long, narrowly ovoid, not at all squarrose, glumes nearly straight, ^ in., 

 ovate-oblong ; nut larger, almost globose, ^ in. diam., style hairy above 

 and with a large hispid bulb. 



9. P. argentea, Vahl, Enum. ii. 294 (1806). 

 Thw. Enum. 348. C. P. 2877. 



Fl. B. Ind. vi. 640. Rottb. Descr. et Ic. t. 17, f. 6 (Scirpus argenteus), 

 and t. 14, f. 3 (S. monander). 



A densely tufted glabrous annual, root-fibres filiform; 

 stems 4-8 in., filiform, trigonous, striated; 1. shorter and more 

 slender than the stem, almost capillary, flexuous, smooth, 

 sheath short, quite glabrous; spikelets 3-20, quite sessile, in a 

 terminal globose head, ovoid-oblong or cylindric, obtuse, 

 £-£ in. long, to in. diam., glabrous, greyish green, rhachilla 

 stout, scarred; bracts 3-4, filiform, 2 or more much longer 

 than the head, up to 3 in., flexuous; glumes closely imbricate, 

 ■£0 in. long, broadly ovate, acute, not cuspidate, membra- 

 nous, with a strong green keel from above the middle to the 

 tip, sides hyaline and red-brown; stam. 1, anth. obtuse; nut 

 ^o in., orbicular, shortly stipitate, much compressed, biconvex, 

 margins acute, quite smooth, style twice as long as the nut, 

 very minutely hairy above the middle, base conical, truncate, 

 glabrous, stigmas 2. 



