1714 CXLIX. ERIOCAULE^. 



minutely tuberculate. Albumen mealy. Embryo small, ovoid or lenticular, 

 remote from the hilum. — Herbs mostly marsh or aquatic, either tufted with 

 radical leaves or the stems more or less elongated and covered with old leaves, 

 the upper ones forming a terminal tuft. Leaves linear or filiform, rarely lanceo- 

 late. Scapes radical or peduncles terminal or in the upper axils, simple and 

 leafless, but each one usually enclosed at the base in a sheathing scale, and 

 •bearing a single terminal head. Flowers very small, usually numerous in the 

 head, the outer rows mostly female, the inner ones chiefly male, but the two 

 sexes often variously intermixed, all concealed within the imbricate bracts, the 

 tips of the stigmatic branches and sometimes the anthers slightly protruding, the 

 receptacle often hairy. 



The Order is limited in the Old World to the single genua Eriocaulon, but there are a few 

 ■other genera, and one a very large one exclusively American and chiefly tropical. — Benth. 



1. ERIOCAULON, Linn. 



(Stamens often woolly.) 



Male flowers : Inner perianth at the apex of a slightly thickened stalk, of 3 or 

 ■2 teeth or short distinct hyaline segments often fringed or ciliate and usually bear- 

 ing on their inner face a small dark gland, the segments occasionally very minute 

 ■or obsolete ; outer perianth affixed lower down on the stalk, of 2 or 8 segments 

 •either distinct or variously united. Stamens 6 or 4, of which 3 or 2 opposite the 

 inner segments and as many alternating with them or occasionally fewer by 

 .abortion. Eudiments of the ovary either 3 glands in the centre of the flower or 

 rarely deficient. Female flower : Inner perianth at the apex of a slender stalk 

 ^sometimes very short or scarcely any) of 3 or 2 hyaline segments usually erect 

 :and sometimes with a small gland on the inner face ; outer of 2 or 3 variously 

 shaped segments affixed lower down on the stalk, or sometimes 1 or both perianth 

 ■deficient. Ovary 3 or 2-lobed ; style branches 3 or 2, without alternate appen- 

 ■dages. — Annuals or perennials with the leaves in radical tufts or rarely crowded 

 on an elongated stem. Scapes or peduncles usually longer than the leaves. 



The genus extends over the general area of the Order, but chiefly in the Old World, where it 

 is the only one of the Order. 



Sebies l.—Floicen S-merons or rarely jmrtially 2-mcroits by abortion, especially ike females. 



-"Sabmerged stems elongated, densely covered with filiform leaves. Flower- 

 heads pubescent, at least at first 1. E.setaceiim. 



Scapes and radical leaves above Ht. long, loosely hairy towards the base. 



Flower-heads pubescent. Onter-perianth segments winged 2, jE. australe. 



Scapes and radical leaves under Gin. and often much less, glabrous. 

 Flowers-heads pubescent. Bracts with their tips incurved and appressed. 

 Outer perianth-segments not winged. Flowering bracts broad, very 



■ obtuse, fringed only with very short hairs S. E. Smithii. 



Flower-heads glabrous. Bracts with their tips incurved and appressed." 

 Outer female perianth segments, linear, 3 or fewer or none. 

 Outer male perianth segments united in a spatha-like scale. 

 Outer female perianth-segments linear, dilated, inner narrow erect . 4. E nanum 

 Outer female perianth-segments very narrow, inner none .... 5, E einereum. 

 ■Outer male perianth-segments linear or oblong-spathulate, free or 

 nearly so. 

 Outer and inner female perianth-segments linear. 



Plant not iin. high, with small leaves 6. E. pimlltwi. 



Plant of 1 to IJm., with rather broad linear leaves 7. £ pallidum. 



Outer female perianth-segments linear, inner none ," 8. E^ nigricans'. 



Series U,— Flowers all 2-merou$. 



•Outer femxle perianth-segments linear or spathulate, very deciduous, not 

 winged. Scapes 4 to Gin. high. Leaves broadly linear, many-nerved. 

 Heads near 3 lines diameter : . . 9. E. spectabile. 



