Cyperus.] OLII. OYPERACE^. 1789 



linear or oblong, very flat, pale coloured, in some specimens 2 to 3 lines long 

 and 8 to 12-flowered, in others lengthening to 6 to 9 lines with numerous flowers, 

 and at length appearing pedicellate from the fall of the lower glumes, usually 

 about 1 line broad or rather more, the rhachis not winged. Glumes rather 

 broad, short, regularly spreading, giving the spikelet a pinnate appearance, more 

 or less acuminate, the keel acutely prominent, with 1 more or less conspicuous 

 nerve in the middle of each side. Stamens 2 or 3. Style 3-cleft. Nut rather 

 broad, acutely or at length obtusely 8-angled, not half so long as the glume. — 

 Bceckel. in Linnjea, xxxv. 503; V. Jlaccidus, E. Br. I.e.; Boeckel. I.e. 502; 



F. V. M. Fragm. viii. 267 ; G. imbecillis, C. aquatilis, C. imuulatus, and 

 C. hreviculmis, E. Br. I.e. 218, 214 ; C. Lessoniamis and C. macellus, Kunth, 

 Enum. ii. 29, 30, according to Boeckeler. 



Hab.: Islands of the Gull of Carpentaria, R. Brown ; Endeavour Eiver, Banks and Solander, 

 A. Cunningham; Shoalwater Bay. li. Brown; Bookingham Bay, Dallachy; Lizard Island, 

 M'Gillivray ; Eockhampton and numerous localities in S. Queensland, Thozet, Boioman, 

 Leichhardt, F. v. Mueller and many others. 



I do not quite identify this species with any extra Australian one, but it is very closely allied 

 to C. compressus, which is common in tropical and subtropical regions. It is exceedingly 

 variable in stature, in the degree of development of the inflorescence and in the number of 

 flowers in the spikelets and consequently their shape. I have been unable to distribute the 

 numerous forms before me into distinct varieties, but generally may be been placed in two 

 series ; one with long narrow spikelets and numerous flowers would include C. aquatilis, 

 C. imbecilhs and C. trinervis, Br., the other often a smaller or more slender plant, with broader 

 shorter spikelets, fewer flowers and more spreading glumes would include G. Jlaccidus, 



G. inundatus and 0. hreviculmis. One of Cunningham's Endeavour Kiver specimens looks at 

 first sight very different, from the spikelets being only IJ to 2 lines long and 1 line broad with 

 8 to 12 flowers. A few specimens from Eockhampton have remarkably long spikelets with 

 numerous flowers. All have the same pale 3-nerved glumes, though the lateral nerve is 

 sometimes scarcely promineat. — Benth. 



28. C. Haspan (a misprint for " Halpan," Hermann's Sinhalese name for the 

 plant, Trin. Fl. Ceyl. v. 26), Linn.; Kunth, Enum. ii. 34 ; Benth. Fl. Austr, vii. 

 270. Stems tufted or shortly creeping, 6in. to above 1ft. rarely 2ft. high, 

 acutely 3-angled, or flat but usually weak. Leaves all reduced to sheathing 

 scales, or with a flat lamina shorter than the stem. Spikelets small, few 

 together in loose clusters in a simple or compound umbel of slender usually 

 numerous rays, the longest 2 to Sin. long or sometimes all short. Involucral 

 bracts 2 or 3, shorter than the inflorescence or one rather longer, flat and 

 rather broad. Spikelets linear, flat, acute, 2 or at length 3 or even 4 lines 

 long, scarcely ^ line broad, of 12 to 20 or rarely more flowers, the rhachis not 

 winged. Glumes appressed but loosely imbricate, narrow, obtuse, or with 

 the prominent keel produced into a short point, the sides brown or 

 pale, obscurely nerved. Stamens usually 3. Style B-cleft. Nut obovoid or 

 almost globular, obtusely 3-angled, less than half the length of the glume. 

 — Eottb. Descr. et. Ic. PI. t. 6, f. 2 ; Boeckel. in Linnsea, xxxv. 574 ; 

 F. V. M. Fragm. viii. 260 ; Scirpus autumnalis, Eottb. Descr. et Ic. PI. 58, t. 17, 

 f . 3, not of Linn. ; Cyperus pulcherrimus, Willd. ; Kunth, Enum. ii. 35 ; Boeckel. 

 in Linnsea, xxxv. 573 ; C. platyciilmis, E. Br. Prod. 214, altered to C. laticulmis, 

 Spreng. Syst. i. 228. 



Hab.: Islands of the Gulf of Carpentaria, M. Brown ; Cape York, Daemel, M'Gillivray ; 

 Lizard Island, M'Gillivray; Bockingham Bay, Dallachy; Eockhampton and neighbourhood, 

 Bowman and others; Moreton Bay, F. v. Mueller. C. Stuart and others. 



Abundant in the tropical regions of the New and the Old World, extending northwards 

 in America to Florida, New Orleans and Mexico. 



24. C. flavidus (yellow), Eetz. Obs. v. 13 ; Trimen's Fl. Ceyl. v. 27. A 

 slender annual the stems 6 to 18in. high, stout or slender, trigonous, soft, the 

 leaves shorter than the stems, erect narrow-linear, 1 to 6 lines broad, flat, 

 1-veined. Umbels compound or decompound, rays many, spreading, primary, 1 



