ERIOCAULACBAE 135 



18. XYRIDACEAE (Xyris Family) 



Tufted or scattered, rigid or wiry, erect herbs, the leaves all radical, 

 grass-like, linear or subulate. Scape simple, naked, elongated, bearing 

 a single head. Flowers sessile, perfect, each subtended by a dark-brown, 

 imbricating, concave, rigid bract. Bracteoles or sepals 3, deciduous, dry, 

 embracing the claws of the petals, the dorsal one often hooded, broader 

 than the 2 lateral ones. Petals 3, clawed, the limb yellow. Stamens 3, 

 inserted at the bases of the petals, included; staminodes 3, or sometimes 

 none. Ovary superior* imperfectly 3-celled; placentas' 3, many-ovuled; 

 style trifid. Capsule loculicidally 3-valved or the top circumciss. Seeds 

 small, numerous, linear. 



Two genera and about 50 species, in all warm countries, a single genus 

 and 2 species in the Philippines. 



1. XYRIS Linnaeus 



Character of the Family as given above. (A Greek name of a pl^nt 

 with 2-edged leaves.) 



1. X. pauclflora Willd. 



A slender, erect, tufted or scattered, grass-like plant 16 to 30 cm high. 

 Leaves erect, rather rigid, linear, flat, acuminate, about 2 mm wide, very 

 much shorter than the scape which is slender and exserted. Head ovoid, 

 yellowish-brown, dense, 4 to 6 mm long, the bracts broadly ovate, shining, 

 strongly imbricate. Flowers yellow, small. ^ 



In open wet grasslands, old rice paddies, etc.. La Loma to Masambong, 

 fl. Oct.-Dec; rather widely distributed in Luzon. India to China south- 

 ward to Australia. 



19. ERIOCAULACBAE (PiPEWORT Family) 



Herbs growing in wet places with narrow leaves crowded in a rosette 

 at the base, the flowers small, crowded in dense, bracteate, glpbose to 

 ovoid, usually long-peduncled heads, dimerous or trimerous, male and 

 female flowers usually in the same he*ad. Involucral bracts usually wider 

 than the floral ones which are usually longer than the flowers, glabrous .or 

 ciliate. Male flowers : Sepals 2 or 3, free or connate, very rarely wanting. 

 Petals 2 or 3, rarely wanting, small, often obscure, inserted at the top of 

 an elongated stipe with the stamens, usually gjand-bearing. Stamens 6. 

 Female flowers: Sepals 2 or 8, free, rarely connate. Petals 3, rarely 2 

 or none, usually oblanceolate, or spathulate, glabrous or ciliate. Ovary 3-, 

 rarely 2-celled; stigmas 3 or 2. Capsules membranaceous, usually 3-lobed; 

 seeds small, solitary, smooth or striate. 



Genera 9, species about 575, in the warmer parts of both hemispheres, 

 a single genus in the Philippines. 



1. ERIOCAULOr, Linnaeus 



Characters of the Family as given above. (Greek "wool" and "stem.") 

 Species over 200 in the warmer parts of both hemispheres, 7 or more 

 in the Philippines. 



1. Sepals of the female flowers very strongly keeled 1. E. alatwn 



1. Sepals of the female flowers narrow, flat, not at all keeled, or rarely 

 wanting. 



