Scirpus.] Cyperacece. 7 y 



much longer than the nut, very slender; stam. 3, anth. linear- 

 oblong, very persistent ; nut elongate-obovate, or ellipsoid, 

 T V in. long, plano-convex, beaked, smooth, dark brown, style 

 slender, stigmas 3. 



In streams, montane zone, 4-7000 ft.; rather rare. Nuwara Eliya; 

 Maskeliya ; Wattakelle. Fl. Jan., March, April. 

 Also in Nilgiris, Sumatra, and China. 



8. S. grossus, L. f. Supftl. PL 104 (1781). 

 Thw. Enum. 351. C. P. 847. 



Fl. B. Ind. vi. 659. 



Rootstock stout, with thick root-fibres, stoloniferous or 

 not ; stem 6-10 ft, as thick as the little finger, triquetrous, 

 spongy, angles smooth, sides concave ; 1. few, radical, 2-3 ft. 

 long by \ in. broad, triquetrous, finely acuminate, coriaceous, 

 margins smooth or scaberulous, sheath long, open; spikelets 

 ^—\ in., globose or globosely ovoid, dark brown, in large 

 corymbiform decompound terminal open or contracted umbels 

 3-8 in. diam., rays rigid, erect or spreading, up to 5 in. long;, 

 rhachilla slender; bracts very large, up to 3 ft. by J— | in. 

 broad at the base, flat, leaf-like, margins scaberulous ; glumes 

 rather loosely imbricate, membranous, orbicular, T V in. diam.,. 

 concave, almost hemispheric, slenderly keeled above the 

 middle, tip rounded ; hypogynous bristles 6, or fewer, unequal, 

 retrorsely scabrid ; stam. 3, anth. linear, subacute; nut T V in., 

 obovoid, trigonous, dark brown or black, shining, tip conical, 

 style slender, stigmas 3. 



Low country; rather rare. Anuradhapura (Gardner); Galle; Reigam 

 Korale. Fl. July. 



Also in India, Malaya, Philippine Is. 



9. S. littoralis, Schrad. Fl. Germ. i. 142 (1806). 



S. ftectinatus, Roxb. ; Thw. Enum. 351. C. P. 831. 

 Fl. B. Ind. vi. 659. 



Rootstock stout, hard, with matted fibrillose root-fibres ; 

 stem 3-4 ft., as thick as the thumb at the soft base, and as a 

 crow-quill above, trigonous above, spongy, striate, smooth, 

 flowering near the top; 1. 6-24 in. by \ in. or less broad, finely 

 acuminate, membranous, mid vein obscure, margins nearly 

 smooth, sheaths long, soft, open ; spikelets \-\ in., oblong, 

 obtuse, terete, subsolitary, pedicelled, in lax terminal irre- 

 gular subcorymbose or panicled umbels, with drooping rays 

 1-2 in. long, pale brown, rhachilla slender; bracts minute; 

 glumes closely imbricate, membranous, \ in. long, orbicular- 

 oblong, concave, tip notched, keel slender, produced into a 

 short cusp ; hypogynous bristles 2-7, unequal, linear, plumose 

 with moniliform hairs; stam. 2 or 3, fil. very broad, anth. 

 slender, tipped with a red appendage; nut variable, biconvex,. 



