00 CYPEEACE^. 



cence terminal, of few to many sparingly umbellate spikelets; spike- 

 lets oblong-ovate, acute, 6 to 8 lines long, 4 to 5 lines broad at base, 

 chestnut-colored or dark brown; bractlets thinly scarious, strongly 

 keeled, bifid, with a short soon recurved awn from between the teeth; 

 achene broadly obovate, plano-convex or with a low ridge on the 

 back, obtuse and slightly apiculate, dark brown, shining. — (S. 

 maritimus of Bot. Cal.) 



Common in brackish marshes along the coast, and in moist alkaline 

 soils in the interior: Newark; Suisun Marshes; Fl. May. Fr. Sept. 



Var. compactus Davy, var. nov.,has the spikelets congested into 

 dense heads: — Stege. 



7. S. microcarpus Presl. Paniclbd Bttlkush. Perennial; 

 rootstock stout, creeping; stem 2 to 3 ft. high, stout, leafy, tri- 

 angular; leaves flat, 6 to 12 lines wide; margins scabrid; involucre 

 of several sub-equal spreading foliaceous bracts, about equaling the 

 inflorescence; panicle decompound, large and open; rays 1 to Gin. 

 long, the spikelets in terminal and axillary clusters; spikelets IJ to 2 

 lines long, oblong-ovate, greenish or lead-colored; bristles 4, barbed 

 to the base; stamens 2; style bifid; achene J line long, pale, plano- 

 convex, not angled on the back, abruptly short-beaked. — (S. syl- 

 vaticus L. var. digynus of Bot. Cal.) 



Common along streams and in fresh-water marshes: Berkeley; San 

 Prancisco; Lake Pilarcitos, San Mateo Co.; Mt. Tamalpais; Guerne- 

 ville. May-Oct. 



5. ERIOPHORUM L. Cotton-sedge. 



Bog perennials. Stems from creeping rootstoeks, triangular or 

 subterete, leafy or naked. Leaves linear or the uppermost reduced 

 to sheaths. Spikelets terminal on the stem, solitary or clustered or 

 umbellate, subtended by an involucre of scale-like bracts or none. 

 Bractlets of the spikelet membranaceous. Bristles numerous, filiform, 

 silky, becoming greatly elongated in fruit. Stamens 1 to 3. Style 

 very slender and elongated, 3-cleft. Achene triangular. (Greek 

 erion, wool, phora, crop, referring to the woolly heads.) 



1. E. gracile Koch. Slender Cotton-sedge. Described by 

 Watson as having stems 1 to 2 ft. high, very slender, with one or 

 more erect, very narrow, triangular leaves; involucre of 2 to 3 erect, 

 brownish, ovate-lanceolate bracts, the lowest being sometimes par- 

 tially foliaceous; rays J in. or less long, slightly nodding, tomentose- 

 scabrous; spikelets 2 to 5, oblong, 3 to 4 lines long; bractlets ovate, 

 obtuse, slate-colored or brownish; achene li lines long, linear-oblong, 

 broadest above. 



Keported as occurring in "swamps near Santa Eosa, Sonoma Co., 

 Bigelow." 



6. CAREX L. Sedge. 

 Perennial. Stems from rootstoeks, triangular and commonly more 

 or less scabrous on the angles, the leaves in''3 ranks. Spikelets' termi- 

 nal and solitary, or with several below the terminal one in Ihe axils 



