CLxxn. OYPERAOE-Ts. (0. B. Clarke.) G85 



26. SCI^XSRXA, Berg. 



Perennial or annual. Stems erect, leaf-bearing. Leaves narrow, sub- 

 3-nerved, often serrate cutting severely, base sheathing. Panicle often 

 stout, elongate, compound, sometimes narrow or reduced nearly to a spike ; 

 primary bracts leaf- like, secondary narrow often setaceous. Flowers all 

 unisexual. SpiJcelets unisexual, rarely bisexual; bisexual spikelet with 

 one fern, fl. below, and a few males above ; fern, spikelet similar, but upper 

 male portion reduced to a small rudiment pressed laterally against the nut 

 or occasionally (when the fem. fl. appears terminal). Glumes usually 

 2-4 empty below the fem. glume, or in the male spikelets 2 below the male 

 glumes ; fem. glume concave, margins not united at base round the pistil. 

 Stamens 3-1 ; anthers linear-oblong, often muoronate. Nut osseous, often 

 shining; style linear, not dilated at base, deciduous; branches 3, linear. 

 OynopJiore usually prominent under the nut, apex dilated, often into a 3- 

 toothed saucer. — Species 150, in moist warm countries. 



Subgenus I. Hypopoutim (Genus), Nees in Linnsea, ix. 303, character 

 widened. Bisexual spikelets many. 



1. S. pergracilis, Kunth Enum. ii. 364 ; very slender, nearly gla- 

 brous, roots fibrous, spikelets clustered on a linear interrupted spike, style 

 3-fid, nut white tubercled fenestrate, disc obsolete. Strachey Cat. PI. 

 S^umaon, 75 ; Thw. Enum. 354; Boeck. in Linnsea, xxxyiii. 438. Hvpo- 

 porum gracile, Nees in Edinh. Phil. Journ. xvii., p. 267, and in Wight 

 Contrib. p. 118.— Soleria, Wall. Cat. 3406. 



Widely scattered from Guewhai, alt. 5600 ft., Duthie, to Stxhut, Wirllich. 

 Bbhab, Kurz. Chota Nagpobe, T. Anderson. Deccan Peninsula, Wight. 

 Ceylon, Thwaites. — Distrib. Trop. Africa. 



Stem 10-20 in. Leaves 4-10 by ^ in. Spike 2-6 in.; flusters (of 2-5 sp'kelets) 

 ^-f in. apart ; bract ovate-lanceolate, hardly longer than clusters. Bisexual spikelets 

 scarcely ^ in., numerous, terminal, with sometimes a male spikelet close beneath. 

 Fem. glume boat-shaped, ovate-lanceolate, greenish ; glume below it similar, sub- 

 opposite J superior male glumes thinner, brownish, more obtuse, not keeled. Nut 

 -^ in. in diam., ovoid, trigonous, base narrow trigonous. — Dr. Trimen writes : " The 

 lemon-scented leaves are used to drive away mosquitoes." 



2. S. lithosperma, Sw. Frodr. 18, and Fl. Ind. Occid. 92, in note ; 

 slender or medium, nearly glabrous except the sheaths, rhizome woody, 

 panicle thin straggling, style 3- fid, nut white smooth (except in var. ^), 

 disc nearly obsoletfi. Nees in Wight Contrib. 117; Dalz. & Gibs. Bomh. 

 Fl. 288 ; Thw. Enum. 354 ; Boeck. in Linncea. xxxyiii. 451 ; Eura in 

 Journ. As. 8oc.-Av.,x>t. ii. 159 {not Roxb.). S. tenuis, Retz. 06.?. iy. 13; 

 Roxb. Fl. Ind. iii. 574. S. Wightiana, Steud. , Syn. Cyp. 176. Soirpus 

 lithospermus, lAnn.- Sp. PI. [ed. 1] 51. Schcenns lithospermus, Linn. 

 Sp. PI. [ed. 2], 65. Olyra orientalis, Lour. Fl. Gochinch. ii. 674. Hypn- 

 porum lithospermum, Nees in. Mart. El. Bras. Gyp. 172. — Scleria, Wall. 

 Gat. 3417, 3418, 3419.— Bheede Hori. Mai. xii. t. 48'. 



Throughout India (except the West arid area), alt. 0-3000 ft , common, from 

 SiKKiM to Cbtlon and MALACCA. Andamans and Nicobabs, Kurz.—DisTi.iB. 

 All warm regions except Continental Africa. 



Rhizome elongate, horizontal. Stems lJ-3 ft., not tufted. Leaves 6-12 by 

 i in. ; sheaths usually hairy. Panicle (fully developed) a ft., distant primary 

 branches 4 in., ascending, again divided ; but ofteu very thin with few spikelets. 



