Genus 9. 



SEDGE FAMILY. 



339 



9. LIPOCARPHA R. Br. App. Tuckey Exp. Congo, 459. 1818. 



Low annual sedges, with slender tufted culms leafy at the base, and terete many-flowered 

 spikelets in a terminal head, subtended by a i-several-leaved involucre. Scales firm, spirally 

 imbricated all around, all fertile or several of the lower ones empty, at length deciduous. 

 Flowers perfect, with. a small hyaline scale on each side; bristles none. Stamens 1-2; anthers 

 4-celled. Style 2-3-cleft, deciduous, its base not swollen. Achene plano-convex or 3-angled. 

 [Greek, alluding to the thick sepals in some species.] 



About 15 species, widely distributed in warm and tropical regions. Type species: Hypaelytrum 

 argenteum Vahl. 



i. Lipocarpha maculata (Michx.) Torr. 

 American Lipocarpha. Fig. 835. 



Kyllingia maculata Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 1 : 29. 1803. 

 L. maculata Torr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. 3 : 288. 1836. 



Annual, glabrous, roots fibrous, culms tufted, 

 grooved, compressed, smooth, longer than the 

 narrowly linear somewhat channeled leaves, 3'- 

 10' tall. Leaves of the involucre 2-4, the larger 

 1/-5' long; spikelets ovoid-oblong, obtuse, 2a- 

 3" long, 1" in diameter, 2-6 together in a termi- 

 nal capitate cluster ; scales rhombic or lanceo- 

 late, acute at the apex, curved, the sides nearly 

 white, or flecked with reddish-brown spots, the 

 midvein green ; exterior sepal convolute around 

 the achene, nerved, hyaline ; stamen 1 ; achene 

 oblong, yellowish, contracted at the base. 



In wet or moist soil, Virginia to Florida. Near 

 Philadelphia probably adventive. Cuba, Panama. 

 July-Sept. 



10. HEMICARPHA Nees & Arn. Edinb. 

 New Phil. Journ. 17 : 263. 1834. 



Low tufted mostly annual sedges, with erect or spreading, almost filiform culms and 

 leaves, and terete small terminal capitate or solitary spikelets subtended by a 1-3-leaved 

 involucre. Scales spirally imbricated all around, deciduous, all subtending perfect flowers, 

 a single hyaline inner scale between the flower and the rachis of the spikelet; bristles none. 

 Stamen 1. Style 2-cleft, deciduous, not swollen at the base. Achene oblong, turgid or len- 

 ticular. [Greek, in allusion to the single inner scale.] 



About 5 species, natives of temperate and tropical regions. Besides the following, another 

 occurs in the western United States. Type species : Hemicarpha Isolepis Nees. 



Scales with a short tip or mucronate. 1. H. micrantha. 



Scales abruptly narrowed into an awn about as long as the body. 2. H. aristutata. 



i. Hemicarpha micrantha (Vahl) Pax. 

 Common Hemicarpha. Fig. 836. 



Scirpus micranthus Vahl, Enum. 2 : 254. 1806. 



Hemicarpha subsquarrosa Nees, in Mart. Fl. Bras. 2 : 

 Part 1, 61. 1842. 



H. Drummondii Nees, in Mart. Fl. Bras. 2': 61. 

 1 842. 



H. micrantha Pax in E. & P. Nat. Pflf. 2 2 : 105. 

 1887. 



Annual, glabrous, culms densely tufted, com- 

 pressed, grooved, diffuse or ascending, 1'-$' long, 

 mostly longer than the setaceous smooth leaves. 

 Spikelets ovoid, many-flowered, obtuse, about 1" 

 long, capitate in 2's-4's or solitary ; involucral 

 leaves, or one of them, usually much exceeding 

 the spikelets; scales brown, obovate, with a short 

 blunt tip ; achene obovate to oblong, obtuse, mu- 

 cronulate, little compressed, light brown, its sur- 

 face minutely cellular-reticulated. 



'In moist, sandy soil. New Hampshire to Ontario, 

 Washington, Florida, Texas, Mexico and South 

 America. July-Sept. 



