Sderia.] Cyperacecz. 95 



Swampy places in low country ; very rare. Alagoda (Gardner) ; near 

 Nilgala, Uva. Fl. Jan. 



Also in India and Trop. Africa. 



The leaves are lemon-scented and the crushed plant is used at 

 Nilgala, where they called it ' Mehiwal,' to keep away flies. 



3. S. corymbosa, Roxb. Fl. Ind. iii. 574 (1832). 

 S. majus, Moon, Cat. 62 (ex Clarke). S. androgyna, Nees; Thw. 

 Enum. 353. C. P. 33*9- 

 Fl. B. Ind. vi. 686. 



Rootstock stout, woody, creeping, root-fibres very stout ;. 

 stem 3-8 ft., very robust, trigonous or triquetrous, angles 

 scaberulous; 1. 2-3 ft. by -|— 1 in. broad, acuminate (not 

 narrowed into a long filiform point), 3-veined, margins and 

 midrib smooth or scabrid; sheaths trigonous, closed, mouth 

 truncate with a very narrow scarious border opposite the limb ; 

 spikelets very many, fascicled on the spreading trigonous 

 branches and branchlets of long leafy axillary and terminal, 

 subcorymbosely branched panicles 6 in. to 2 ft. long, pale 

 or dark brown ; bracteoles filiform, \ in. long or more, 

 with dilated often pubescent bases; frg. spikelets \ in. long; 

 glumes 4, broadly ovate, subacute, or outer cuspidate ; nut 

 ellipsoid, up to \ in. long contracted, above the trigonous base, 

 top umbonate, white, smooth, polished, disk-lobes o. 



Moist low country below 1000 ft.; rare. Hiniduma ; Katukanda ; 

 Kalutara (Moon). Fl. July- Sept. 

 Also in Khasia, Burma, Malacca. 



4. S. junciformis, Thw. Enum. 354 (i< 



5. hirsuta, Moon, Cat. 62 ; Trim. Syst. Cat. Ceyl. 103. Cylindropus 

 junciformis, Nees in Wight, Contrib. 118. S.ftilosa, Boeck. in Linnaea, 



xxxvii. 473. C. P. 3225. 

 Fl. B. Ind. vi. 692. 



Rootstock stout, woody, creeping, root-fibres strong ; stem 

 2-3 ft, rather slender, trigonous, smooth ; 1. as long as the 

 stem or shorter, \-\ in. broad, linear, obtuse, rather coriaceous, 

 villous with spreading hairs on both surfaces, 1-3-veined, 

 margins slightly scabrid ; sheaths trigonous, lower open, upper 

 closed, villous, mouth truncate, with a short, rounded ligule 

 opposite the limb ; spikelets few, erect, in distinct clusters, on 

 a subsimple, solitary, terminal, narrow panicle 2-3 in. long,. 

 subtended by a strict, erect, leaf- like bract longer than 

 itself; rhachis pubescent; bracteoles \-\ in., filiform, recurved; 

 fruiting spikelets \ in. long; glumes 3, upper lanceolate, acu- 

 minate; glabrous or dorsally pubescent; nut ellipsoid, \-\ in. 

 long, subumbonate, faintly striate and cancellate, contracted 

 at the base above the trigonous entire disk, white, shining. 



