540 CYPEKACEiE. [Cladlum. 



the root is often inodorous as well as sweet-scented in Portugal, and Mr. G. E. 

 Smith describes his Kentish specimens as possessing the peculiar fragrance of 

 the species in perfection. 



The plant thrives well in water, and hecomes very tall and luxuriant, the invo- 

 lucral leaves attaining the length of a yard or more without losing their extremi- 

 ties by sphacelation, but, gracefully arching, droop in all directions in the most 

 elegant manner possible, recalling the idea of some tropical inmate of our stoves 

 and conservatories. 



At St. Catherine's Point the plant was cut for a late hay-crop by the former 

 occupant of the ground, and its sweetness, permanence and ample produce seem 

 to point it out as a valuable object of cultivation on wet meadow-lands. The sta- 

 tion is now on the property of my friend George Kirkpatrick, Esq., by whom the 

 meadow has been fenced in for the protection of the Cyperus, which, through the 

 zeal of that gentleman, and his love for whatever is rare and beautiful in nature, 

 will henceforth flourish in security from the scythe of the utilitarian farmer. 



Tribe II. Scirpe^. 



Flowers 'perfect. Glumes of each spikelet imbricated on all sides. 

 Perigynium 0. 



II. Cladium, Schrad. Twig-rush. 



" Spikelets 1 — 2 flowered. Glumes 5 — 6, imbricated on all 

 sides, the lower ones empty and smaller. Style with a conical 

 base, deciduous. Acliene with a somewhat loose, fleshy, or corky 

 coat, tipped with the ovato-conical but not jointed base of the 

 style. HyjDogynous bristles none." — Br. Fl. 



1. C. Mariscus, R. Br. Prickly Twig-rush. "Panicle much 

 divided leafy, spikelets capitato-conglomerate, stem rounded leafy, 

 margins of the leaves and keel rough." — Br. Fl. p. 476. Schoe- 

 nus, Z. : E. B. t. 950. Host. Gram. Aust. iii. 37, t. 53. 



In deep bogs and marshy places; very rare. Fl. June, July. 1^. 



W.Med. — Jn the bog at Easton, Freshwater gate, G. S. Mill, Esq.!!! 



I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. Mill for dried flowering specimens of this 

 plant from the above station, where I have not succeeded in finding it in flower 

 myself. Though tolerably plentiful in one or two of the meadows there, its occur- 

 rence amongst the strong coarse herbage of other Cyperaceae, and the absence of 

 its conspicuous panicles, had completely screened it from my observation, even on 

 that often-explored spot. The Rev. G. E. Smi(h has remarked to me that for the 

 full development of the inflorescence the roots seem to require the absolute con- 

 tact of water, an opinion my own experience confirms. The description was com- 

 pleted from fresh specimens collected at Gonier pond, a tract of partly reclaimed 

 Ijog on the opposite Hampshire coast, immediately behind Alverstoke, nearly 

 facing the town of Ryde, and where it abounds, attaining a large size. 



A tall rush-like plant, the largest of the British Cyperaceee. Root creeping 

 extensively, with long, stout, scaly runners, and emitting copious pale branching 

 fibres from the crown. Leaves linear, nearly erect, very firm and rigid, 2, 3, or 4 

 feet long, pale yellowish green, with a considerable glaucous tinge, from about 3 

 to 8 or 9 lines in width, strongly conduplicate or channelled in their lower part, 

 with pale, reticulated, sheathing bases, tapering upwards into very long, slender, 

 acute, triquetrous points; smooth-edged and rounded beneath to some distance 

 from the base, when they gradually become acutely keeled, and armed both there 

 and on the margius with extremely firm cartilaginous serratures, pointing for- 



