1782 CLII. CYPERACEiE, [Rhynchospora. 



4 to 5 lines long, acuminate, of a pale shining brown, 3 or 4 of the outer glumes 

 shorter and empty. Hypogynous bristles 3 much longer than the nut and often 

 as long as the glume, 3 or 2 much shorter. Nut oblong, biconvex, more or less 

 tuberculate, the beak as long as or rather shorter than the nut and closely sessile 

 upon it by its broad base. — Kunth, Enum. ii. 289 ; Boeekel. in Linnsea, xxxvii. 

 -541 ; R. pterochmta, F. v. M. Fragm. ix. 17. 



Hab.: Gulf ot Carpentaiia ; between Norman and Gilbert Itivcrs, GaZZ jrcr ; Bookingham Bay, 



Dallachij. 



5. R. tenuifolia (leaves slender), Benth. Fl. Austr. vii. 350. Very near 

 R. longisetis, but with smaller spikelets and a different fruit. Stems slender, 6 to 

 -Sin. high. Leaves numerous, very narrow, and often longer than the stem, the 

 outer ones with open sheaths scarcely ciliate, the inner sheaths longer and more 

 •closed. Inflorescence and invohicral bracts as in R. longisetis, but the spikelets 

 scarcely above 3 lines long when fully out. Hypogynous bristles 3, nearly as long 

 as [the glume, 3 scarcely longer than the nut. Nut oblong, slightly biconvex, 

 bordered by a nerve-like margin, smooth or scarcely tuberculate, the beak not 

 ■half so, long and abruptedly contracted at the base so as to appear stipitate. — R. 

 longisetis, F. v. M. Fragm. ix. 17, not of R. Br. 

 Hab.: Eoekingham Bay, Dallachy. 



17. MESOMEL.ENA, Nees. 



(Middle of the base of the bract dark.) 



(Gymhoschcenus, Neen.) 



Spikelets numerous in a dense head enclosed within the sheaths of the 



involucral bracts, with 2 flowers, the upper one fertile, the lower sterile or male 



(or 1 only, the lower one deficient in M. deusta), the rhachis short. Glumes 



distichous or nearly so, 2 to 4 outer ones empty, the flowering ones closely 



■enveloping the flowers. Hypogynous bristles or scales 3, often flat. Stamens 3. 



Style thickened and rigid in the lower part but at length usually deciduous ; 



stigmatic branches 3. Nut obovoid, crowned when young by the hardened base 



of the style, inserted on a raised torus or a short thick stipes. — Densely tufted 



rigid perennials. Leaves at the base of the stem only, often long, or rarely 1 on 



the stem. Flower-head solitary and terminal, the enclosing bracts broad and 



rigid often black, 1 usually and sometimes 2 or more with linear points or 



lamina;. 



The genus is limited to Australia. It is well characterised by the inflorescence as well as by 

 the hypogynous bristles or scales constantly 3 only and all equal. 



Flower-heads above Jin. Leafy points of the bracts erect. Spikelet 



6 to 8 lines 1. M. deusta. 



Flower-heads globular, very compound. Spikelets 2 to 3 lines long. 



Outer-bracts orbicular or very broad, with short or without points . 2. M. spharocephala. 



1. IMC. deusta (burnt), Benth. FL Austi; vii. 379. Stems densely tufted on 

 a horizontal rhizome, rigid, Gin. to 1ft. high. Leaves much shorter, all radical 

 with open sheaths or one embracing the stem with a longer close sheath. Flower- 

 head ovoid or turbinate, f to Jin. long ; outer bracts 2, erect, the sheaths as long 

 as the spikelets, black and rigid with scarious hyaline margins, and erect leafy 

 points, I to lin. long on the outer bract, shorter on the second, the bracts within 

 the head more glume-like. Spikelets numerous, sessile, 6 to 8 lines long, very 

 narrow, 1-flowered, dark-colo tired. Glumes not strictly distichous, 4 to'Sempty 

 ones nearly of the same length, the pubescent keels ending in short points, rather 

 longer and more obtuse on the outer ones, the inner ones with membranous sides, 

 the flowering glume thin and hyaline, and above the flower an empty glume 

 more like the outer ones but smaller. Hypogynous bristles 8, nearly as long as 

 the glumes, ciliafce in the lower part. Stamens 3. Style long, rigid at the base. 



