394 CYPERACE^. [laolepis. 



on the sides, scarious on the edges. Style 3-cleft. Nut pale-coloured, 

 crowned by the minute persistent bulbous base of the style. 



Hongkong, Harland, Wright. Widely spread over tropical Asia, Africa, and Australia. 



3. I. supina, Br.; Kunth, JEkium. ii. 196. Stems cylindrical, tufted, 

 3 in. to near 1 ft. long, erect or decumbent, with a single sho'rt leaf often re- 

 duced to the sheath. Spikelets oblong, 3 to 4 lines long, 3 to 10 together 

 in an apparently lateral cluster, the leafy bract continuing the stem. Glumes 

 acute or mucronate, with a strong green keel, brown on the sides with scarious 

 edges. Style 8-cleft. Nut dark-coloured, transversely wrinkled and almost 

 muricate, crowned by the very short slightly thickened persistent base of the 

 style. 



Houglsong, Wright ; common in paddy-fields, Wilford. Frequent in the tropical and sub- 

 tropical regions of tlie Old World, extending into S. Europe. 



8. SCIKPUS, Linn. 



(Eleocharis, Br.) 



Spikelets several-flowered ; the glumes imbricate aU round, only 1 or 3 of 

 the lowest empty. Flowers hermaphrodite. Hypogynous bristles usually 6, 

 sometimes fewer or more. Stamens 8 or fewer. Style 3- or 3-cleft, either 

 not thickened at the base or breaking off above a small bulbous thickening 

 which remains attached to the nut. — ^Stem leafy or leaves all radical, or re- 

 duced to a sheath at the base of the stem. Spikelets solitary or clustered, in 

 terminal or apparently lateral heads, or simple or compound umbels. 



A large genus, distributed over every part of the globe. 



Stems leafless, except a short sheath at the base. 

 Spikelets solitary, terminal. 



Spikelet very obtuse. Glumes closely imbricate. Style 2-cleft . . \. S. camitatus. 

 Spikelets rather acute. Glumes looser. Style 3-cleft 2. & af 



Spikelets 1 to 3, in an apparently lateral cluster '. . i. S. mncoides 



Stem tall, leafy. Spikelets numerous, in an irregularly compound umbel 4] S. chinemk. 



1. S. capitatus, Willd. Stems tufted, 3 to 6 in. high, leafless except 

 a short sheath at the base. Spikelets terminal, solitary, erect, ovoid or oblon"- 

 very obtuse, 3 to 3 hues long ; the subtending bract not differing from the 

 glumes. Glumes very closely imbricate, pale straw-coloured, broad very 

 obtuse soanous on the edges. Hypogynous bristles 4 to 8, rather longer 

 than the nut. Style 3-cleft. Nut obovate, smooth, dai-k-coloui-ed, crowned 

 with the white flattened bulbous base of the style.- J?feoc/5ms oapitaia, Br.; 

 Kunth, Enum. u. 150. 



anfthToTd w™?f '■ ^'^'^^ ^*"''^ °™'' *''' ^^P^"'^ "^^ ^•^''*™Pi'^ ^Si°== "^ *!"= New 



• \- \' *®**™^» ^^'^^^- Apparently an annual, tufted and slender, 3 to 6 

 in high. Leaves none, except a short sheath at the base of the stem. Spike- 

 let sohtaiy, erect, ovoid-oblong, \\ to 3 lines long, rather acute, wi h 1 or 3 

 broad transparent very obtuse deciduous glume-like bracts 8^1 base 

 Glumes obtuse or the upper ones rather acute, of a reddish-brown with a 

 green or brown keel, and often scarious at the edges. Hypogyuo^ bristles 

 about 6, rather longer than the nut. Style S-cllft. Nut ciwned b J £ 



