Uriophorum.] clxxii. cyperacb^. (C. B. Clarke.) 666 



AlPlNE Himalaya, alt. 8-16,000 ft.; head of Jumna Valley, Jaoquemota ; 

 Nynee Tal, Tliomson ; Chupolia ia Bhotan, Griffith. 



Tliis may be regarded as a depauperated alpine form of E. comosum ; but the 

 examples are numerous, exactly alike, from distant localities ; and there .arfi wanting 

 intermediate forms. 



12. FUXRENA, Botth. 

 Stem bearing leaves or leaf-like bracts even in its upper half. Leaves 

 grass-like, base sheathing. Spikelets clustered, with numerous perfect 

 flowers, tabescent at top. G^Zwrnes imbricate on all sides, strongly aristate, 

 hairy in upper half. Hypogynous bristles Q (3 in the position of sepals, 3 

 of petals) or much reduced, or ; 3 sepals bristle-like, 3 petals (in the 

 typical species) battledore-shaped. Stamens 3 antioous, or 2. Style long, 

 slender, glabrous, finally deciduous ; branches 3, long. Nut small, obovoid, 

 or ovoid, triquetrous, more or less stalked, smooth reticulated or trabecu- 

 late,_ usually narrowed at top often with a minute beak (which may be the 

 persistent style-base). — Species 25, scattered all warm regions. 



The spikelets with the stem leafy in upper half, are like no other sedges but the 

 SyliiatictB section of Scirpus, from which Fuirena is known by its strongly aristate 

 glumes. 



Sect. I. PsEUDO-SciKPUs. Three inner hypogynous bristles (petals) 

 linear or narrow, or more often 0. 



1. r. pubescens, Kunth Enum, ii. 182; spikelets in a terminal 

 cluster (axillary clusters not rarely added), hypogynous bristles or 

 rudimentary linear, style 3-fid, nut smooth white not (or most minutely 

 obscurely) reticulated. BoecJc. in Lmntea, xxxvii. 104 (excl. all Indian 

 syns. and specimens). Scirpus pubescens, Lam,. III. i. 139 ; Desfont. Fl. 

 Atlant. i. 52, t. 10. Carex pubescens, Pair. Voy. en Barb. ii. 254. 0. 

 Poiretii, Lirm. Syst. [ed. G-melin] ii. 140. Isolepis pubescens, Boem. 8f 

 Sch.8yst.ii. 118. 



Punjab ; Thomson {Eerb. Brit. Mus.). — Disteib. S.W. Europe, all Africa. 



Mhizome creeping, short. Stems 12-20 in. , triquetrous, glabrous except at top. 

 Leaves 2-8 by i in;, glabrous or hairy. Spikelets in clusters of 5-1, ovate -oblong, 

 f in. long ; bracts as long as spikelets (occasionally very much longer). Qlmnes 

 lurid black or glaucescent, often somewhat regularly 5-ranked. Nut subsessile; 

 beak pyramidal, minutely scabrous. 



2. P. Wallichiana, Kunth Enwm. ii. 182 ; spikelet-clusters corymbed, 

 hypogynous bristles or linear (see also var.), nut slenderly striate longi- 

 tudinally finely trabeculate between strise. F. cuspidata, Kunth I. c. 187 ; 

 Dalz. & Cribs. Bomb. Fl. 286. P. pubescens, Soeck. in Lirmsea, xxxvii. 104 

 (all Indian syns. cmd specimens, not of Kunth). Scirpus cuspidatus, 

 Both. Nov. PI. Sp. 31.— Puirena, Wall. Cat. 3545. 



N.W. India. Hurdwar, WaUich; Sutledge Valley, Tliomson. Centeal 

 India ; Goona, &c.. King. ' Khandwa ; Dathie. Poona ; JoAiquemont. Bombay, 

 Saleell, &c. 



Hardly distinguishable from F. pubescens, Kunth, but by the elegantly striate 

 nut, and more compoundedly corymbose inflorescence. Leaves and sheaths glabrous. 

 Sepals often J-f nut, linear, often unequal, retrorsely scabrous or smooth, often 0. 

 Petals always (except in var.). Nitl ellipsoid, . triquetrous, narrowed at both ends, 

 yellow brown or testaceous ; beak small, pyramidal, hardly scabrous ; outermost 

 cells transversely oblong, superimposed regularly in longitudinal series. 



