Srirpus.~\ Cyperacece. 75 



umbelled), rhachilla slender, naked ; bract o, or setaceous, 

 short, striate; glumes membranous, closely imbricate, nearly 

 orbicular, cymbiform, keel ending in a recurved cusp ; hypog. 

 bristles o; stam. 3, anth. oblong, apiculate; nut J-q in., obovoid 

 or nearly orbicular, trigonous, black, sides strongly closely 

 transversely rugose, style slender, as long as the nut, stigmas 3. 



Low country, especially in dry region ; common. Fl. March, April. 



Throughout warm parts of Old World. 



4. S. erectus, Poir. Enc. Meth. vi. 761 (1804). 



(?) S. lateralis, Retz. Obs. ii. 12 (1786). Moon, Cat. 6. S. juncoides, 

 Roxb. ; Thw. Enum. 351. S. debilis, Pursh; Trim. Syst. Cat. Ceyl. PI. 102. 

 C. P. 850. 



Fl. B. Ind. vi. 656. 



A densely tufted, glabrous annual, with filiform and 

 thickened root-fibres; stems 1-2 ft, slender, trigonous, ribbed 

 and striate, flowering towards the top, sheaths short, mouth 

 obliquely truncate, with rarely a short membranous limb; 

 spikelets 3-4 in a cluster, 4-6 in. below the top of the 

 stem, sessile, \-\ in. long, ovoid or oblong-ovoid, obtuse, 

 terete, pale brown, rhachilla slender, naked ; bract o but the 

 strict acute top of the stem produced beyond the spikelet ; 

 glumes closely imbricate, nearly orbicular, \ in. diam., coria- 

 ceous, tumid, hardly keeled, mid vein ending in a mucro, pale, 

 speckled with brown ; hypogynous bristles 6, or fewer, or o, 

 shorter than the nut, retrorsely scabrid ; stam. 3, anth. linear, 

 subacute; nut broadly obovoid or obcordate, broader than 

 long, T V in. diam., biconvex or subtrigonous, abruptly shortly 

 beaked, smooth, red-brown, shining, style short, stigmas 2 

 or 3. 



Moist low country ; common. Fl. March, Sept., Nov. 



Extends into temp. Asia, Australia, and America. 



I think that there can be little doubt but that this is the S. lateralis, 

 Retz., from Ceylon ; but neither Trimen nor Clarke consider the evidence 

 sufficient to warrant the adoption of this much earlier name. — J. D. H. 



5. S. articulatus, L. Sp. PI. 47 (1753). Maha-greta-pan, 6". 



Moon, Cat. 6. Isolefiis articulata, Nees ; Thw. Enum. 350. C. P. 846. 



Fl. B. Ind. vi. 656. Rheede, Hort. Mai. xii. t. 71. 

 Stems 2-4 ft, densely tufted on a stoloniferous rootstock 

 with slender root-fibres, as thick as a goose-quill, spongy and 

 transversely septate within (visible externally,, terete, striate, 

 flowering nearer the base than the top ; 1. o, or sheaths with a 

 membranous, acute, erect tip, sometimes 1 in. long ; spikelets 

 \ to nearly I in., oblong-ovoid, terete or obscurely angled, 

 sessile in a single lateral stellately spreading cluster of 20-60 

 sometimes \\ in. diam., pale brown, rhachilla never exposed ; 

 bracts o but the continuation of the stem; glumes closely 



