560 CTPERACE^. (sedge FAMILY.) 



§ 4. Spike more or less flattened, thicker than the slender or capillary culm, few - many- 

 flowered; the thin membranaceous scales somewhat 2~3-ranked: style 3-cleft: 

 bristles of the perianth 3-6, fragile or fugacious. Small or delicate species, dif- 

 fering from the last subdivision chiefly in theflattish spikes. (CHjETOCTi'iRCS, 

 Nees.) 



* Achenium tumid, obscurely triangular, many-ribbed on the sides. 



16. E. acicul^is, R. Br. Culms finely capillary (2'- 6' long), more or 

 less 4-angular ; spike 3 - 9-flowered ; scales ovate-oblong, rather obtuse (greenish 

 with purple sides); achenium obovate-oblong, with 3-ribbed angles and 2-3 

 times as many smaller intermediate ribs, also transversely striate, longer than 

 the 3-4 very fugacious bristles ; tubercle conical-triangular. ( S. trichbdes, 

 Muhl., &c.) — Muddy shores : common. (Eu.) 



* * Achenium triangular, with smooth and even sides. 



17. E. pygmsea, Torr. Culms bristle-like, flattened and grooved (1'- 2' 

 high ) ; spike ocate, 3 - ^-flowered ; scales ovate (greenish ) , the upper rather acute ; 

 achenium ovoid, acutely triangular, smooth and shining, tipped with a minute 

 tubercle ; bristles mostly longer than the fruit, sometimes wanting. (S. pusillus, 

 Vahl?) — Brackish marshes and brackish river-banks. 



8. SCIRPUS, L. Bulrush or Club-Ecsh. (PI. 3.) 



Spikes several - many-flowered, solitary or in a terminal cluster which (except 

 in No. 1) is subtended by a 1 -several-leaved involucre (this when simple often 

 appearing like a continuation of the culm), terete, the scales being regularly 

 imbricated all round in many or several ranks, or rarely somewhat compressed, 

 the fewer scales inclining to be 2-ranked. Flowers under all the scales, or all 

 but one or two of the lowest, all perfect. Perianth of 3-6 (straight or rarely 

 tortuous) bristles, or sometimes wanting. Stamens mostly 3. Style 2-3-cleft, 

 simple, not bulbous at the base, wholly deciduous, or sometimes leaving a tip or 

 point to the lenticular or triangular achenium. — Culms sheathed at the base; 

 the sheaths usually leaf-bearing. Perennials, except Ko. 8-9; flowering in 

 summer. (The Latin name of the Bulrush.) 



§ 1. SCIRPUS proper (including Is6lepis, which simply wants the bristles). 

 Bristles when present rigid, not elongated and contorted or exserted afler flowering, 

 mostly barbed downwards. 

 * Spike solitary, few-flawered, small, often flaltish: achenium triangular, smooth. 

 I- No involucral leaf or bract and no leaves below : base of style indurated and persist- 

 ent, hut continuous with the achenium. ( Transition to Eleocharis and Blysmus. ) 

 1. S. pauciflbrus, Lightfoot. Culms striate-angled, very slender 

 (3' -9' high), scarcely tufted, on slender running rootstocks, at the base with a 

 short truncate sheath ; scales of the ovate spike evidently 2-ranked, chestnut- 

 brown, pointless, all flower-bearing, the two lower larger; bristles 3-6, down- 

 wardly barbed, about the length of the conspicuously beak-pointed triangular 

 achenium. (S. Bieothiyon, Ehrh. Blysmus pauciflorus, Carwc/. ) — Very wet 

 places. New York (Jefferson Co., Dr. Crawe, & Herkimer Co., J. A. Paine) to 

 N. Illinois {Dr. Vasey), Michigan, and northwestward. (Eu.) 



