I oo Cyperacece. \Diplacrum*. 



Rootstock stout, creeping, woody, stoloniferous, root-fibres 

 very stout; stem 3-6 ft, stout, trigonous or triquetrous, angles 

 smooth below, scaberulous above; 1. 3-4 ft. by ^-1 in. broad, 

 narrowly ensiform, tip suddenly acute obtuse or 2-fid, erect,, 

 very rigidly coriaceous, 3-veined beneath, the lateral veins 

 sometimes very strong, and the midrib depressed, the 1. thus 

 being plicate, finely striate above, margins smooth or scabrid,. 

 sheaths very long, triquetrous or 3-winged, closed, mouth 

 truncate, with a narrow scarious membrane opposite the limb;, 

 spikelets solitary, distantly spicate on the erect filiform 

 branchlets of an oblong terminal peduncled panicle 4-6 in. 

 long, pale or dark brown ; bracteole o ; fruiting spikelets few,, 

 about \ in. long; glumes 3, broadly ovate, subacute; disk 

 very small, obtusely 3-lobed ; nut globose, ^-\ in. diam.,. 

 obscurely trigonous, smooth, white. 



Ponds and wet places in moist low region ; common. Fl. Sept., 

 March. 



Also in Assam, Burma, Malaya, Philippine Is., Australia, Zanzibar. 



14. S. levis, Retz. Obs. Bot. iv. 13 (1786). 



S: zeylanica, Moon, Cat. 62 (non Poir.). Nees in Wight, Contrib. 

 117. Thw. Enum. 354. C. P. 2745. 

 Fl. B. Ind. vi. 694. 



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

 stem 2-4 ft, rather stout, acutely trigonous, angles smooth ; 

 1. 2-3 ft. by \-\ in. broad, narrowed into a long slender 

 obtuse tip, flat, 3-veined, margins scaberulous ; sheaths long, 

 trigonous or triquetrous, angles smooth, closed, mouth truncate 

 or very shortly triangular, and pubescent opposite the limb ;. 

 spikelets numerous, subsolitary on the stiff spreading branches- 

 and branchlets of terminal and subterminal oblong panicles 

 2-6 in. long, dark brown ; bracteoles few, short, or o ; fruiting 

 spikelets \ in. long ; glumes 3, broadly ovate, cuspidately 

 acuminate, upper broader than long ; disk-lobes broadly 

 ovate, obtuse ; nut an oblate sphere, ^ in. diam., smooth, 

 white, polished. 



Moist low region below 1000 ft.; rather common. Fl. Aug. 

 Also in Assam, Burma, Nicobar Is., Malaya, S. China. 

 Near S. chine?isis in habit and ligule, differs especially in the oblate 

 nut, and few or o capillary bracteoles. — J. D. H. 



21. DIPLACRUM, Br. 



A small, tufted, glabrous annual ; stem leafy ; 1. linear ; 



spikelets in small dense axillary clusters at the mouths of 



the l.-sheaths, minute, unisexual ; male spikelets 1-2-fld.; 



glumes about 3, narrow, membranous ; stam. 1-2, anth.. 





