XYRIS. 



Linn. Zeyl. 14. Willd. n. i. Vahl n. i. (Gladiolus 

 indicus, flore tripetalo ; Rudb. Elyf. v. 2. 17. f. 8. Gla- 

 diolo lacuilri accedens malabarica, e capitulo botryoide 

 florifera ; Pluk. Almag. 170. t. 416. f. 4. Kotsjiletti- 

 puUu ; Rheede Hort. Malab. v. 9. t. 71. Ranmotha ; 

 Herm. Zeyl. 41.) — Stalk furrowed, with many angles. 

 Head ovate. — Native of the Eaft Indies, and perhaps of 

 Sierra Leone. The leaves are defcribed by Vahl as fome- 

 times a foot long, equalling the flower-llalks, lax, acute, 

 almoft; the breadth of the nail ; but he never faw any fo 

 broad as in Rheede's figure. The Jlowsr-Jlalis are feveral, 

 rather more llender than a pigeon's quill, furnilhed with fix 

 or eight furrows, and twilled in the lower part. Head 

 rather fmaller than a Hazel-nut, with roundifh fcales. Our 

 fpecimens, gathered by the late Mr. Smeathman at Sierra 

 Leone, have no leaves, but ihe Jlali and hfaJ anfwer exaftly 

 to the above defcription. The /cales are from twenty -five 

 to thirty in each head, rounded, or nearly orbicular, con- 

 vex, clofely imbricated, obtufe, brown, but little polifhed, 

 divided lengthwife into three nearly equal fpaces, or regions, 

 (as is the cafe in moft of the fpecies that we have feen ) ; the 

 middle region here is flightly hoary or downy, the fide-ones 

 fmooth. The Jloiuers are pad. The head in thefe fpeci- 

 mens is nearly globofe ; not oblong, as in Gaertner's figure, 

 marked X. indica. A few of the lowed fcales are flatter 

 and rather fmaller than the reft, apparently always barren, 

 or unaccompanied by flowers. Whatever Mr. Purfli's X. 

 indica may be, it cannot belong to this fpecies. He defcribea 

 the leaves very long and graffy, twifted as w?ell as the 

 Jlaiks. 



2. 'K. puie/cens. Downy-fheathed Xyris. Poiretn. 2. 

 — " Stalk ftriated, almoft cylindrical, enveloped in a 

 downy (heath. Leaves greatly elongated." — Received by 

 profeflbr Desfontaines, from the Weft Indies. Nearly re- 

 lated to X. indica, but diff^ering in feveral characters peculiar 

 to itfelf. The roots are long, as thick as the finger, with 

 foft, rather flefhy, nearly fimple, fibres, as thick as a raven's 

 quill ; and producing from the crown a great number of 

 foft, flaccid, alternate, fomewhat imbricated, very fmooth 

 leaves, a foot or foot and a half long, half an inch wide, 

 entire, pointed ; dilated at the bafe. Stalks ftraight, rather 

 flender, twifted at the lower part, where they are each em- 

 braced by a cylindrical, ftriated, downy Jheath, three or 

 four inches long, terminating in a little fhort acute leaf. 

 Head oi Jloiuers 0''ia\, obtufe, the fize of a large pea, formed 

 of numerous, imbricated, very clofe, unequal, whitilh 

 fcales ; the outer ones a little dilated, oval, nearly flat, 

 fcarcely pointed ; the inner narrower, obtufe, rather con- 

 cave. Poiret. See our X. anceps, which has alfo a very 

 long leafy-pointedy2ifa/Zi, but it is quite fmooth. 



3. X. macrocephala. Great-headed Xyris. Vahl n. 2. — 

 " Stalk with one acute angle. Head and fcales ovate ; the 

 latter grey at the back." — Native of Cayenne. Defcribed 

 from the herbarium of profefTor Desfontaines. The leaves 

 are eighteen inches long ; as broad as the nail, or broader. 

 Stalis taller than the foliage ; round in the lower part ; 

 fomewhat two-edged further up, with one convex and one 

 acute fide. Head when m fruit twice as big as a Hazel-nut, 

 ovate, with obtufe _/i-a/fj. This differs from the reft in the 

 breadth of its leaves, and the fize of the head. Vahl. 



4. X. platycaulis. Broad-ftalked Xyris. Poiret n. 4. — 

 Stalk comprefled, dilated, ftriated, fmooth ; twifted below ; 

 with a lax, cloven, abrupt flieath at the bafe. Heads glo- 

 bofe, abrupt at the fummit — Gathered by Commerfon in 

 Madagafcar. Leaves wanting in the fpecimens. Stalks a 

 foot high ; two or three lines broad. Sheath at leaft three 

 inches long, fmooth, ftriated, rather lax, cloven lengthwife, 



obliquely truncated at the fummit. Head hardly fo big as 

 a pea, flattifh at the top, with broad, obtufe, concave, 

 fliining, chefnut-coloured fcales, the outer ones keeled to- 

 wards their point. Poiret. We have enlarged the author's 

 fpeciiic charafter from his own defcription, in order the 

 better to contraft this fpecies with the two following, with 

 which it appears to agree in the fiatnefs of the Jlali. 



5. X. anceps. Small-headed Two-edged Xyris. La- 

 marck lUuftr. V. I. 132. Vahl n. 3—" Stalk two-edged, 

 fmooth. Head nearly globofe." — Native of Madagafcar, 

 and Malabar ; perhaps alfo of Guiana. Leaves rather 

 rigid, narrow, but one-third or one-fourth the height of the 



Jlaiks, which are feveral, a foot or more in height, twifted, 

 fmooth, by no means ftriated. Head fcarcely fo large as a 

 pea, with roundifti, convex, hardly emarginate, fcales. Pe- 

 tals yellow, finely toothed. Vahl. A Guiana fpecimen, 

 communicated by Mr. Rudge, remarkable for the fmallnefs 

 of its head in proportion to the herbage, anfwers precifely 

 in every point to Vahl's defcription. Aquatic, or marfti- 

 plants, fuch as the fpecies of this genus, are known to 

 grow, more than any others, in widely diftant and diflirailar 

 parts of the world. We have fufpefted this Guiana fpeci- 

 men might be Poiret's X. pubefcens n. 2 ; but the flieath at 

 the bafe of the ftalk is not pubefcent. 



6. X. complanata. Flat-ftalked Xyris. Brown n. i.— 

 " Stalk comprefled flat, dilated, nearly ftraight ; cartilagin- 

 ous and rough at the edges, four times as long as the fword- 

 fhaped, ftraight, bordered, roughifh leaves. Spike oblong 

 or cylindrical. Scales orbicular, tumid." — Gathered by 

 Mr. Brown, in the tropical part of New Holland. The 



Jlalk is a line and a half broad. We have feen no fpecimen. 



7. X. fcabra. Rough Xyris. Br. n. 2. — " Stalk two- 

 edged, twifted, with rather acute and rough angles. Leaves 

 linear, roughifti. Head ovate or oblong." — From the fame 

 country. The_y7a/i is hardly a line in breadth. Brown. 



8. X. Itvis. Smooth Xyris. Br. n. 3. — " Stalk two- 

 edged, fmooth, as well as the narrow linear leaves. Head 

 nearly ovate. Scales imbricated every way. Keels of the 

 calyx -leaves fringed." — Gathered by Mr. Brown near Port 

 Jackfon, as well as in the tropical part of New Holland. 

 The Jlaiks are from fifteen to eighteen inches high. 



9. X. americana. Blue American Xyris. Aubl. Guian, 

 40. t. 14, very bad. Vahl n. 4. Symb. v. 3, 8. Willd. 

 n. 3. Poiret n. 6. (Jupicai; Pif. Braf. 238.) — Stalk two- 

 edged in the upper part. Head ovate-oblong. Scales po- 

 liflied, emarginate, with a fmali callous intermediate point. 

 — Native of moift paftures in Brafil, flowering in the rainy 

 feafon, according to Pifo, whofe fynonym was verified by 

 Vahl, from an infpeftion of Marcgraav's herbarium. Au- 

 blet found the fame in wet meadows near the river Macouria, 

 in Guiana, flowering in December ; but his figure is made 

 up, as Vahl obferves, with the leaves of an Eriocaulon ; the 

 fcales of the head, and the Jloiuers, being moreover very ill 

 drawn. We have never met with a fpecimen anfwering to 

 this fpecies. Vahl fays the leaves are graffy, narrow, and 

 acute, half the length of thejlali, which is a foot or more 

 in height ; round m the lower part, with two prominent 

 lines running down it ; compreffed in the upper part, and a 

 little dilated under the head. The latter is obtufe, rather 

 bigger than a pea. Scales oblong, concave, cloven at the 

 pomt, with a broivnifti, rather callous point in the notch. 

 Vahl. The corolla is faid to be blue, of which we know no 

 other inftance in this genus. 



10. X. caroUniana. Carolina Xyris. Walt. Carol. 69. 

 Vahl n. 5. Poiret n. 7. Purlh n. 2. (X. Jupicai; 

 Michaux Boreal.-Amer. v. i. 23, according to Vahl.) — 

 — " Stalk two-edged. Head ovate, acute." — Native of 



Carolina. 



