Bulbostylis^ Cyperacece. 67 



A densely tufted annual, root-fibres capillary; stem 

 6-18 in., filiform, glabrous, grooved; i. much shorter than the 

 stem, 1-2 in. long, capillary, acuminate, margins involute, 

 scaberulous upwards, sheaths short, membranous, glabrous, 

 with long -bearded mouths ; spikelets \-\ in., red -brown, 

 densely crowded in a solitary terminal head ^-f in. diam., few- 

 fid., rhachilla stout; bracts rarely exceeding the spikelets; 

 glumes yo m - l° n g> loosely imbricate, ovate, laterally com- 

 pressed, cymbiform, acute or with the stout acute keel ending 

 in a mucro or cusp, sides thin, puberulous; stam. 1, anth. 

 linear, subacute ; nut 7 V in., globosely obovoid, trigonous, 

 crowned with the minute base of the style, smooth, angles 

 rounded, style slender, stigmas 3. 



Var. pulchella, Clarke, 1. c. Isolepis pulchella, Thw. Enum. 350. 

 Scirpus Thwaitesii, Boeck. in Lirmasa, xxxviii. 330. C. P. 3761. 



Stems stouter, bracts longer, up to 1 \ in., capillary, flexuous, 

 base often bearded ; spikelets shorter, stouter, very pubescent, 

 keel and cusp very stout ; lowest glume nearly flat, hyaline, 

 margins often ciliate. 



Sandy ground, especially near the sea-coast ; very common round the 

 Island. Var. pulchella, Kollapituya, Colombo, i88t (Ferguson). Fl. 

 Feb., May. 



Trop. Asia and Africa. Var. /3 confined to Ceylon and Coromandel. 



3. B. capillaris, Kunth, var. trifida, Clarke in Fl. B. Ind. vi. 652. 

 Isolepis trifida, Nees; Thw. Enum. 350. Fimbristylis trifida, Trim. 

 Syst. Cat. Ceyl. 102. C. P. 851 (in part). 



A densely tufted, glabrous annual, with capillary root- 

 fibres; stem 4-10 in., filiform, strongly ribbed; 1. much shorter 

 than the stem, capillary, flexuous, margins involute, quite 

 smooth, sheaths very short, scarious, glabrous or bearded at 

 the mouth ; spikelets yo~t i n -> subsolitary, distant on the few 

 short capillary rays of a simple or subcompound umbel, 

 ovate, compressed, red-brown, lowest glumes cuspidate, empty, 

 rhachilla slender; bracts minute, subulate; glumes few, loosely 

 imbricate, ^ m - l° n g> broadly ovate, cymbiform, obtuse, quite 

 glabrous, keel broad, green, vanishing below the rounded tip, 

 margins pale, membranous; stam. 1 or 2, antb. short, tip 

 setaceous; nut £~ in., broadly obovoid or obcordate, tipped 

 with the small black style-base, white, at length greyish 

 brown, minutely striolate and granulate, style about as long 

 as the nut, slender, stigmas 3. 



Montane zone ; rather common ; ascending to 7200 ft. Upper 

 Hewaheta; Ramboda ; N. Eliya. Fl. Sept. 

 Throughout warm regions of Old World. 

 This var. trifida is the Old World representative of the tropical 



