■492 CYPEEACE^. (sedge FAMILY.) 



5. C crythrorhizos, Muhl. Culm obtasely triangular (2,°-3° hiffli); 

 umbel compounil, maay-rayed ; involucre 4-5-lcaved, vciy long-; involuccls 

 bristle-fonn ; spikes very numerous, crowded in oblong-cylindrical nearly sessile 

 heads, spreading horizontally, linear, flattish (J' long), bright chestnut-colored ; 

 scales lanceolate, mucronulate. (i_^ — Alluvial banks, Penn. to Wisconsin 1 and 

 southward. August. — Root fibrous, red. 



^ 3. CYPERUS Peopeb. — Style 3-cleft : achenium triangular : sjyikes mamj- 

 Jlowered, flat or almost terete ; only the lowest scale empty ; the joints vf the axis 

 narrowly wing-margined or naked. 



* Roots annual, fibrous : no creeping rootslodcs : culm triangular : spikes awl-shaptd, 

 thead-shaped, or very narrowly linear, very numerous, crowded at the summit of the 

 rays of the simple or mostly compound ample and open umbel : involucre very long, 

 3 - several4eaved : scales of the spike pointless; the joints of the axis winged by a 

 pair of adherent scales : stamens 3. 



6. C. ITIichauxianns, Schultos. Culm stout (l°high); rays short; 

 apilcts linear-thrend-shaped, teretish when mature (i'- J' long) ; the joints of its axis 

 shoH and winged with very broad scaly margins, which embi'ace the ovate triangular 

 achenium ; scales ovate, obtusish. — Marshes, especially along the coast and 

 large rivera, S. New England to Wisconsin, and southward. Aug., Sept. — 

 Flowers 6 - 20 in the spike, yellowish-brown. 



7. C. Engrclni&nni, Steud. Calm |-°-3°high; rays mostly short; 

 spikes filiform, almost terete (about ^' long), somewhat remotely 5 - 9-fiowered, the 

 zigzag joi'nte of the axis slender, narrowly wing-margined; achenium oblong-linear, 

 almost equalling the oblong or oval broadly scarious scale. (C. tenuior, Engelm. 

 mss. C. stenolepis, Torr., probably, though the character does not accord : the 

 greenish keel or centre was perhaps taken for the whole scale, which is not nar- 

 row, so the name is inapplicable as well as doubtful. ) — Low banks of streams, 

 Wisconsin, Illinois, Virginia? and southward. — Between the foregoing and 

 the next. The scales of the spike are so separated that their base is never 

 touched by the one next beneath on the same side. 



8. C Strigfosus, L. Culm mostly stout, bulhous-thickened ^aX the base 

 (1° - 3° high) ; some of the rays elongated, their sheaths 2-bristled ; spikes linear- 

 awl-shaped, but flat, 8-15-flowered, rei-y numerous, reiiexed with age; the 

 slender joints of the axis narrowly wing-margined; scales oblong-lanceolate, sev- 

 eral-nerved, much longer than the linear-oblong achenium. — Var. sfbci6sus (C. 

 speciosus, Vahl? Torr.) is a rank state, with some of the partial umbels fur- 

 nished with a leafy involucel. — Low or rich grounds; common, especially 

 southward. July - Sept. — Spikes greenish, turning straw-color, J' - 1' long. 



* * Boots annual, fibrous: stamen only 1 : culm slender, low {!' -12' high) : spikes 

 flat, oblong-linear or ovate, crowded into heads on the few simple or compound rays : 

 involucre 2 - 3-leaved ; scales of the spike with spreading points : joints of the axis 

 slightly or -not at all margined. 



9. C. inflexilS, Muhl. Dwarf (l'-5' high); spikes oblong-linear, 7-13- 

 flowcred, collected in 2-3 ovate heads (either sessile and clustered or short-pe- 

 duncled) ; scales nerved, tapei'ing into a long recurved jxrint ; achenium obovate, 

 obtuse. — Sandy wet shores ; common. July - Sept. — Sweet-scented in drying. 



