24 Cyperacece. [Cyperus. 



stout, not winged ; glumes broadly ovate, cymbiform, obtuse, 

 minutely cuspidate, dorsally rounded, streaked with brown, 

 strongly many -veined up to the hyaline margin; stam. 3, 

 anth. narrowly linear, muticous; nut \ the length of the 

 glume, obovoid, obtuse, dorsally compressed, trigonous, 

 concavo-convex, tipped by the hardened base of the style, 

 dusky-black, style shorter than the nut, stigmas 3, long, 

 capillary. 



Sandy seashore all round the island. Fl. all the year. 

 Also in India, Persia, and Arabia. 



Bobartia indica, L. Sp. 54 (Fl. Zeyl. n. 41), is erroneously referred by 

 Lamarck (111. i. t. 40) to Cyperus, and he is followed by Bentham (Gen. 

 PI. iii. 698, 1015) and Clarke (Journ. Linn. Soc. xxi. in, and in Fl. B. 

 Ind.). Schumacher, however, long ago (Act. Soc. Nat. Sc. Hafn. iii. 8) 

 showed that Hermann's specimens were Morcsa spathacea, Willd., and 

 from the Cape, not from Ceylon, and I have corroborated his identifica- 

 tion in Journ. Linn. Soc. xxiv. 135. — Trimen. 



14. C. aristatus, Rottb. Descr. et Ic. 23 (1773). 

 Thw. Enum. 343. C. P. 966. 



Fl. B. Ind. vi. 606. Rottb. 1. c. t. 6, f. 1. 



A small, glabrous, tufted annual, 3-6 in. high; stems 

 tufted, stout or slender, trigonous ; 1. usually shorter than the 

 stem, erect, very slender, jV^tV m - broad, acuminate, flat or 

 filiform, flaccid, 1 -veined, sheath membranous; heads solitary 

 or 2-3, globose or oblong, up to \ in. long or broad, simple 

 or lobed, sessile or peduncled, of densely packed squarrose 

 spikelets sessile on a stout rhachis ; bracts 3 or 4, 1 or 2 longer 

 than the infl. ; spikelets minute, y^-i in, oblong or linear,, 

 6-10-fld., rhachilla not winged; glumes oblong, tapering to a 

 recurved beak as long as the limb, 7-1 1 -veined up to near 

 the margin, pale or dark brown, keel strong, ending in a 

 mucro; stam. 1, anth. small, oblong; nut \ the length of 

 the glume, oblong or narrowly obovoid, trigonous, pale 

 brown, style shorter than the nut, stigmas 3, capillary. 



In damp sandy places, especially in the dry region ; common. FL. 

 Dec-March. 



Throughout the Tropics. 



15. C. platystylis, Br. Prod. 214 (1810). 



C. pallidas, Heyne, Thw. Enum. 343. C. P. 355Q. 

 Fl. B. Ind. vi. 598. 



A tall, stout, marsh or water herb ; stem 2-3 ft., as thick 

 as the little finger at the base, triquetrous above, angles 

 smooth or scaberulous, root-fibres very stout ; 1. as long as the 

 stem or shorter, up to \ in. broad, coriaceous, closely striate, 

 midrib slender, margins and keel scabrid, sheath acutely 

 keeled ; umbel short, broad, hemispheric, up to' 10 in. diam. ; 



