28 Cyperacece, [Cyperm.. 



Perennial ; rootstock short, creeping, root-fibres slender; 

 stem 1 2-1 8 in., rather slender, trigonous; 1. as long as the 

 stem or longer, narrowly linear, tq~t m - broad, flaccid, i- 

 veined ; umbel compound, contracted, rays very many, bearing 

 crowded umbellules, whose subglobose heads of innumerable 

 spikelets conceal the secondary rays; bracts 3-5, foliaceous, 

 longest up to 6 in.; spikelets x 1 — $ by ^ in., densely crowded, 

 oblong-lanceolate, 12-20-fld. ; rhachilla rather stout, not 

 winged ; glumes loosely imbricate, ovate-oblong, obtuse, in- 

 curved (from base to tip), hyaline with 2 broad red-brown 

 bands; stam. 1-2, anth. linear; nut minute, half as long as the 

 glume, shortly stoutly stipitate, globosely trigonous, acute at 

 both ends, granulate, style nearly as long as the nut, stigmas 

 3, capillary. 



Dry country in wet places ; very rare. Batticaloa. Fl. March. 

 Also in Bengal, Assam, Malaya. 



22. C. diffusus? Vahl, Enum. ii. 321 (1806). 



C. nigro-viridis, Thw. Enum. 344. C. elegans, Clarke, in Journ. Linn. . 

 Soc. xxi. 125 ; Trim. Syst. Cat. Ceyl. PI. 100 (non L.). C. P. 2879. 

 Fl. B. Ind. vi. 603. 



Perennial ; rootstock short, root-fibres strong, wiry; stems 

 1—2^ ft., rather slender, trigonous; 1. very many, all subradical, 

 nearly as long as the stem, linear, \-% in. broad, acuminate, 

 flat, membranous, flaccid, 3-veined, tip setaceous, margins 

 scaberulous, sheath short ; umbel decompound, short, broad, 

 4-8 in. diam., rays many, up to 3 in. long, slender, secondary 

 filiform, bearing 2-4 short sessile spreading spikelets ; bracts 

 4-10, one or more up to 2 ft. long, bracteoles very short, ovate, 

 acuminate or setaceous ; spikelets \-% by T V in., linear-oblong, 

 acute, 8-20-fid., rhachilla stout, with narrow persistent wings ; 

 glumes loosely imbricate, orbicular, stoutly cuspidate, dorsally 

 very strongly 3-5-veined, veins meeting in the green cusp, 

 margins broadly hyaline, streaked and dotted with red-brown ; 

 stam. 2-3, anth. small, tipped with a subulate appendage; nut 

 nearly as long as the glume, broadly ellipsoid or obovoid, 

 acute, trigonous, dark brown, faces concave, minutely granu- 

 late, style very short, stigmas 3, very long, capillary. 



Var. pubisquama, C. pubisquama, Steud. in Zoll. Verz. Ind. Arch, 

 ii. 62 (1854). 



Fl. B. Ind. vi. 604. C. diffusus, Clarke in Journ. Linn. Soc. xxi. 127. 

 Trim. Syst. Cat. 100 (non Vahl). C. P. 3931. 



Habit of C. diffusus, but taller, 2-3 ft. high, stouter, 1. less 

 flaccid, umbel more compound, glumes more closely imbricate, 

 nuts more strongly granulate. 



