Genus 13. 



SEDGE FAMILY. 



10. Rynchospora gracilenta A. Gray. Slender 

 Beaked-rush. Fig. 850. 



R. gracilenta A. Gray, Ann. Lye. N. Y. 3 : 216. 1835. 



Culms very slender or filiform, smooth, obtusely 

 triangular, i°-2° tall. Leaves flat or becoming invo- 

 lute in drying, rather less than 1" wide, elongated but 

 shorter than the culm; spikelets narrowly ovoid, acute, 

 2" long, few, in 1-4 loose clusters, the lower clusters 

 borne on filiform stalks ; scales ovate, brown, mu- 

 cronate; bristles 6, upwardly barbed, equalling the 

 achene and tubercle; achene broadly oval or nearly 

 orbicular, dark brown, lenticular, dull, smooth; tubercle 

 narrowly subulate, flat, widened at the base, pale, about 

 as long as the achene. 



In pine barren swamps, southern New York to Florida 

 and Texas, near the coast. June-Aug. 



11. Rynchospora Smallii Britton. 

 Beaked-rush. Fig. 851. 



Small's 



R. Smallii Britton; Small, Fl. SE. U. S. 1321. 1903. 



Culms rather stout, 4° high or less, tufted. 

 Leaves flat, l"-2i" wide; spikelets several or 

 numerous in several rather loose axillary clusters, 

 ii"-2" long, fusiform, their scales brown; bristles 

 upwardly barbed, as long as the achene and tu- 

 bercle ; achene narrowly obovate, brown, smooth, 

 shining, about I" long, the smooth tubercle about 

 one-half as long. 



Bogs and damp hillsides, New Jersey and Pennsyl- 

 vania to North Carolina. July-Aug. 



12. Rynchospora cymosa Ell. Grass-like 

 Beaked-rush. Fig. 852. 



Rynchospora cymosa Ell. Bot. S. C. & Ga. 1 : 58. 1816. 

 Schoenus cymosus Muhl. Gram. 8. 181 7. 



Light green, culms tufted, sharply 3-angled, smooth, 

 i°-2° tall. Leaves flat, narrowly linear, grass-like, i4"-2" 

 wide or the basal ones broader, the uppermost sometimes 

 overtopping the culm ; spikelets ovoid-oblong, acute, ii" 

 long, sessile or nearly so, capitate in 2's-7's on the ulti- 

 mate branches of the axillary and terminal clusters; 

 bracts setaceous ; scales dark brown, broadly ovate or I 

 suborbicular ; bristles 6, upwardly barbed, shorter than 

 the achene ; achene broadly obovate to oblong, lenticu- 

 lar, transversely wrinkled; style 2-cleft; tubercle conic, 

 one-fourth to one-third as long as the achene. 



Moist soil, New Jersey to Illinois, Arkansas, Florida and 

 Texas. Also in the West Indies and South America. 

 June-Aug. 



Rynchospora compressa Chapm., of the southeastern states and reported from Missouri, differs 

 by a broader lid-like tubercle. 



Rynchospora rariflora (Michx.) Ell., of the Southeastern States, Cuba and Jamaica, recently 

 found at Cape May, New Jersey, has filiform culms and leaves and filiform-peduncled spikelets. 



