CYPERACEAE HI 



together at the ends of the branchlets, 3 to 10 mm long, green, brownish, 

 or purplish, 3- to 10-flowered or more. Glumes ovate, mucronate, 3- to 

 5-nerved about 1.8 mm long. Nut oblong or ellipsoid, 1.5 mm long, 3-angled. 

 In shaded ravines, San Francisco del Monte, fl. Aug.-Eeb.; widely dis- 

 tributed in the Philippines. All tropical regions. 



5. C. iria L. 



A tufted glabrous annual 10 to 70 cm high, the leaves long or short, 

 2 to 5 mm wide. Umbels 3 to 30 cm in diameter, the rays few to many, 

 long or short. Spikes loosely spicate, the spikelets numerous, lax or some- 

 what crowded, yellow or brown, 3 to 10 mm long, the glumes 6 to 20, 

 obovate, hardly imbricate, about 1.2 mm long, 3- to 5-angled, oblong-obo- 

 void, as long as the glumes. 



In open wet grass lands, fl. all the year; throughout the Philippines. 

 Warmer parts of the Old World; a characteristic rice-paddy weed. 



6. C. compressus L. 



A glabrous, green, densely tufted plant, 15 to 50 cm high, the leaves 

 often nearly as long as the stems, sometimes much shorter, 2 t« 4 mm 

 broad. Rays of the inflorescence up to 8 cm long, spreading, the bracts 

 often long, leaf -like. Spikes of from 3 to 10 crowded spikelets. Spike- 

 lets usually greenish, 1 to 3 cm long, compressed, 10- to 50-flowered flowering 

 glumes about 3.5 mm long, prominently acuminate, densely imbricate. 

 Nuts obovoid, sharply 3-angled, concave on the faces, about 1.5 mm long. 



In open grass lands, Masambong, San Pedro Macati, Pasay, etc., fl. July- 

 Jan. ; throughout ihe Philippines. Tropics generally. 



7. C. pi locus Vahl. 



A somewhat stout, erect, loosely tufted plant, (7.4 to 0.8 m high, glabrous 

 except the pubescent rachis of the spikes. Leaves often three-fourths as 

 long as the stem, 4 to 7 mm wide, the bracts longer than the umbellate 

 inflorescence, leaf-like. Inflorescence 6 to 20 cm in diameter, compound, 

 the rays long and short. Spikelets 5 to 10 mm long, narrow, compressed, 

 spreading when ripe, the glumes 8 to 20, about 1.8 mm long, close or remote, 

 ovate, pointed. Nut acutely 3-angled, ovoid, acute, about 1 mm long. 



In open grass lands, fl. all the year ; widely distributed in the Philippines. 

 1'ropical Asia and Africa through Malaya to Australia. 



8. C. malaccensis Lam. Balangot (Tag.). 



A tall, coarse, glabrous perennial from creeping rhizomes, the stems 

 0.5 to 1.5 m high, stout, sharply 3-angled, almost 3-winged at the top. 

 Leaves few or none, 3 cm long or less, the 2 to 5 bracts subtending the 

 inflorescence leaf-like, up to 20 cm long. Umbels 5 to 15 cm in diameter, 

 usually congested. Spikelets somewhat crowded, linear, 1 to 2 cm long, 

 the glumes 15 to 30, oblong, obtuse, about 2 mm long. Nut narrowly 

 oblong, about 1.7 mm long. 



In brackish swamps, etc., fl. July-Dec; throughout the Philippines along 

 tidal streams. Tropical Africa and Asia through Malaya to Polynesia and 

 Australia. 



9. C. distans L. 



A rather stout, erect, scarcely tufted, glabrous, stoloniferous perennial 

 0.4 to 1 m high, the stems triangular, covered vWth sheaths below. Leaves 

 often as long as the stem, 4 to 6 mm wide. Umbels diffuse, compound, 10 

 to 30 cm in diameter, the rays long and short, up to 20 cm in length. 



