1774 CLIl. CYPERACE^. [Fuirt7ia.. 



S-nerved, produced into an erect or slightly recurved point, much shorter than in 

 F. ffUmerata. Hypogynous scales brown, obovate, nearly \ line long, iruucate 

 and mueronate at the top, contracted at the base but nearly sessile without any 

 intervening bristles. Nut rather broad, acutely triquetrous, mueronate with the 

 slightly thickened persistent base of; the_style. — Kunth, Enum. ii. 185 ; Boeckel. 

 in Linnsea, xxxvii. 110 ; E. Br. Prod. 220 ; F. v. M. Fragm. viii. 238. 



Hab. : Endeavour Eiver, Banks and Sol^mder ; Port Curtis, M^GilUvray; Eockingham Bay^. 

 Dallachyl Bockhampton, Bowman. 



2. P, glomerata (clustered), Lam.; Kunth, Enum. ii. ISi; Benlh. Fl. 

 Austr. vii. 838. Apparently annual. Stems weak, rarely above 1ft., high. 

 Leaves more or less pubescent or at least ciliate on the edges. Spikelets rather- 

 larger than in F. umbellata i eiihet in a single terminal cluster with a leafy bract 

 at the. base, or more frequently with the addition of 1 or 2 almost sessile clusters 

 in the upper axils. Glumes obovate, 3-nerved, produced into a rather long 

 usually spreading or recurved point. Hypogynous scales very variable, but 

 always distinctly stipitate and more or less cordate, usually truncate at the top 

 and sometimes with a long terminal seta, white and thickened towards the apes 

 or brown and membranous throughout, alternating with bristles sometimes as 

 long as themselves, sometimes very shorif. Style-branches occasionally 2 only 

 but usually 3. — Nut obovoid, acutely 3-angled. — Bceckel. in Linnjea, xxxvii. 107 ; 

 R. Br. Prod. 220; F. v. M. Fragm. viii. 288; Scirpim ciliaris, Linn. ; Rottb. 

 Descr. et Ic. PI. t. 17, f. 1 ; F. arenosa, R. Br. Prod. 220. 



Hab.: Between Nonnan anJ Gilbert Kivers, Gulliver; Endeavour River, Banks and Solaiidtr, 

 A. Cunningham; Keppel Bay, B. Brown; Cape York, Daemel; Eockingham Bay, Dallachy r 

 Eockhampton and neighbourhood, Tliozei, Botvman and others ; Brisbane Eiver, Moreton Bay,. 

 F. V. Mueller, Bailey ; Dry-beef Creek, Leichhardt. 



7. LIPOCARPHA, R. Br. 



(Smooth fruited.) 



Spikelets in a terminal cluster- or head, with numerous hermaphrodita? 

 flowers. Glumes imbricate all round the rhaehis, the lowest 1 or rarely 2 empty >- 

 Hypogynous scales 2, parallel to the glume, as long as or longer than the nut 

 and enclosing it. Stamens 1 or 2 (rarely 3 ?). Style' deciduous, slender, with 2 

 or 3 stigmatic branches. Nut oblong, somewhat compressed, obtuse or crowned 

 by a very small persistent base of the style. — Annuals or perennials, the stems 

 leafy at the base only. Spikelets few, small, sessile. Involucral bracts leaflike- 

 narrow unequal, spreading. 



A small genus spread over the tropical regions o£ the New and the Old World. Both the 

 Australian species are also in the Malayan Archipelago, and one of them has a very wide- 

 tropical range. 



Usually perennial, often above 1ft., wiih linear leaves. Glumes spathulate 



or broadly cuneate, scarcely pointed 1. L. aryentca. 



Annual, under 6in , with filiform leaves. Glumes narrow, with spreading 



points 2. i. microce^ltala^ 



1. Xtm argentea (silvery), Tt. Br. App. Tuck. Confio, if) ; Benth. l-l. Austr. 

 vii. 336. Stems from a perennial rhizome attaining I to l^ft. Leaves much 

 shorter, flat, 1 to IJ line broad, with short open sheaths, or the inner one with a 

 long closed sheath and short lamina. Spikelets 3 to 5, in a dense terminal head. 

 Involucral bracts 3 or 4,, spreading^ the longest often 3 or 4in. long, the others 

 much shorter. Spikelets at first nearly globular, at length ovoid or ovoid conical^ 

 nearly white, 3 or rarely 4 lines-long. Glumes very nuipae.rous, closely imbrictfejief. 

 spathulate or obovate-cuneate, thin and almost hyaline, rounded at the end but 

 the broad central nerve often produced into a short point. Hypogynous hyaline- 



