1798 CLII. CYPEKACEJ3. [Scleria. 



1. S. caricina (near a Carex), Benth, Fl. Austr. vii. 42G. A diffuse 

 branching annual, attaining 6 to 9in. but often smaller. Leaves linear or linear- 

 lanceolate, obtuse or acute, ^ to 2in. long, the sheaths striate and keeled. 

 Spikelets unisexual, under 1 line long, in little dense axillary clusters sessile or 

 very shortly pedunculate, each spikelet in the axil of a thin glume-like bract. 

 Male spikelet : Glumes about 3, very thin and narrow ; flowers usually 2, each 

 with 1 or 2 stamens. Female spikelet : Glumes usually 3, the two inner ones 

 ovate-lanceolate, acute, with an acute tooth on each side shorter than the 

 central point ; flower 1 only, without any empty glumes above it. Nat closely 

 enveloped in the 2 enlarged several-nerved glumes, globular, reticulate and pitted, 

 slightly hispid. Disk adnate, small, with a scarcely prominent 3-angled or 

 3-lobed margin. — Diplacrum caricinum, R. Br. Prod. 241 ; Kunth, Enum. ii. 360 ; 

 Endl. Iconogr. t. 23 ; Bceckel. in LinnsBa, xxxviii. 431 ; D. tridentatmi, Brongn, 

 in Duperr. Voy. Bot. t. 26. 



Hab.: Endeavour Eiver, Banks and Solander. 



Common in tropical Asia from Ceylon to Hongkong and the Malayan Archipelago. . 



2. S. pygmaea (dwarf), R. Br. Prod. 240; Benth. hi. Austr. vii. 427. A 

 dwarf branching annual, rarely exceeding 2in. Leaves linear-knceolate, acute, 

 i to lin. long. Spikelets unisexual, 1 to 1| line long, very numerous in little 

 axillary and terminal sessile clusters, the inner bracts subulate-acuminate. Male 

 spikelet : Glumes 2 or 3, very narrow and hyaline, usually enclosed in the 

 longer subtending bract ; flowers 1 or 2 each with 1 or 2 stamens. Female 

 spikelet : Glumes usually 3, the inner ones lanceolate, acutely acuminate, finely 

 several-nerved, quite entire but dilated below the middle, with membranous 

 margins enclosing the fruit ; no empty glumes above the flower. Nut globular, 

 about J line diameter, prominently 8-ribbed, tubereulate-rugose between the ribs. 

 Disk small, adnate, with 3 slightly prominent semi-circular lobes.— F. v. M. 

 ix. 22 ; Hypoporum jiygmaum, Nees in Linnasa, ix. 303 ; Spharopus pygmmts, 

 Bceckel. in Linnfea, xxxviii. 436. 



Hab.: Endeavour Eiver, Banks and Solander ; Eockingham Bay, Dallachy. 



3. S. rugosa (rough), B. Br. Prod. 240 ; Benth. Fl. Austr. vii. 428. Weak 

 and branching, apparently annual, 6in. to 1ft. high. Leaves grass-like, the lower 

 ones sometimes longer than the stem. Clusters of spikelets axillary and terminal 

 sometimes almost sessile, solitary but compound, and often with 1 or 2 

 pedunculate clusters or flowering branches with the sessile one in the lower axils, 

 the foliage and inflorescence either sprinkled with short hairs or quite glabrous. 

 Male spikelets stipitate in the clusters, about 1 line long, with several flowers. 

 Outer empty glumes usually 3, acuminate, with ciliate keels ; flowering glumes 

 very narrow and hyaline, not exceeding the outer empty ones. Stamens 1 or 2 

 in each flower. Female spikelets nearly sessile. Glumes usually 3, acuminate, 

 with ciliate hirsute keels, about IJ line long. No empty glumes above the 

 flower. Nut globular, pitted and rugose. Disk double, the external persistent 

 one broadly cupulate and entire, the inner adnate one with an undulate or 

 obtusely 3-lobed margin. — F. v. M. Pragm. ix. 22. 



Hab.: Endeavour Eiver, Banks and Solander ; Eockingham Bay, nallachy. 

 This species closely connects the preceding with the following ones. 



4. S. laxa (loose), 7?. Br. Prod. 240; Benth. Fl. Austr. vii. 428. Stems 

 weak and slender, 6in. to 1ft. high. Leaves long and narrow, chiefly at the base 

 of the stem, the floral ones similar but shorter. Spikelets unisexual, not 

 numerous, in a terminal almost simple loose and interrupted spike, and a few 

 similar spikes on long filiform peduncles in the axils of distant Kafy bracts. 

 Male and female spikelets equally sessile or nearly so, in little clusters usually of 

 2 males and I female, all under 2 lines long. Male flo-vyers several, the glumes 



