Fimbrisfyiis.'] Cyperacece. 59 



short conical tip; nut oV in. long, obovoid, narrowed towards 

 the top, obtusely trigonous, coarsely tubercled, pale, style 

 rather longer than the nut, nearly glabrous, base conical, 

 stigmas 3, slender. 



Low country m grass ; very common. 



Also in Malaya generally. 



Resembles F. junciformis (of which a specimen is included in the 

 sheet of asperrima in Herb. Perad.) in size and colour of spikelets, but 

 the great bracts at once distinguish it, as do the absence of distichous 

 glumes, the crossly tubercled nut, and long, smooth style. 



20. P. tristachya, Thw. Enum. 434 (1864). 



Sckcenus cyperoides, Retz. Obs. Bot. iv. 8. Abildgaardia tristachya, 

 Vahl; Thw. Enum. 347. C. P. 852. 

 Fl. B. Ind. vi. 649. 



Rootstock stout, woody, many- leaved, root-fibres very 

 stout ; stem 12-24 i n -> rather stout, obtusely angled and 

 deeply grooved ; 1. crowded at the base of the stem, much 

 shorter and more slender than this, 6-12 in., erect and curved, 

 rigid, concave above, acute, margins smooth or scaberu- 

 lous, sheaths very short, rigid, margins scarious ; umbel of 

 2-3 spikelets, one sessile and one or two on rigid pedicels 

 i-ii in. long, compressed; bracts \-\ in., suberect, strict; 

 spikelets \-\ in., subcompressed, ovoid, acute, pale yellowish, 

 lower glumes distichous, lowest small, subulate, empty, upper 

 subspirally twisted, rhachilla slender, wings caducous, glumes 

 \-\ in. long, broadly ovate, cuspidate, faintly many-veined 

 towards the centre, dorsally rounded with an acute keel, 

 margins not hyaline ; stam. 3, anth. slender, subacute ; nut \ 

 in. long, globosely trigonous, suddenly narrowed into a stout 

 cylindric stipes, 3-ribbed, tuberculate, pale, at length dark 

 brown, style twice as long as the nut, flattened, pubescent, 

 base slightly dilated, stigmas 3, short. 



Damp ground near the sea in the dry region ; rather common. 

 Jaffna; Chilaw; Kalpitiya; Trincomalie. 

 Also in Peninsular India and Africa. 

 First collected by Kcenig. 



21. F. monostachya, Hassk. Pl.Jav. Rar. 61 (1848). 

 Abildgaardia mo?ios tacky 'a,\ ahl ; Thw. Enum. 347 and 434. C. P. 3231. 

 Fl. B. Ind. vi. 649. Rottb. Descr. et Ic. t. 13, f. 3 (Cyperns mono- 



stachyus). 



Annual (?) densely tufted and leafy, root-fibres slender; 

 stems 6-12 in., very slender or filiform, striate ; 1. crowded oh 

 the swollen base of the stem, filiform or nearly so, but flat, 

 acute or acuminate, sheath short, margins scarious ; spikelets 

 solitary on the stem, very rarely 2, variable in size, \-\ in. by 

 \-\ broad, compressed, ovate, shining, pale straw-col'd., 2 



