36 T. Holm— Studies in the Cyperacece. 



nowii and C. Steudelii. However, since authors of recent 

 years have seen no difficulty in retaining this as a section, it 

 will be necessary to analyze it again in order to decide the 

 actual importance of its morphological characters : the struc- 

 ture of the inflorescence. 



Car ex Willdenowii possesses a terminal, androgynous spike 

 with male flowers at the top, and a few lateral similarly andro- 

 gynous, which are developed on long peduncles from the axils 

 of the basal leaves. The plant thus shows a somewhat pecu- 

 liar habit, which is not frequently met with in the Car ices 

 genuince, but which, to some extent, suggests certain species of 

 Vigneastra Tuckerm. If we consider the simple androgynous 

 spike by itself, this is just one of the fundamental characters of 

 the old group " Monostackyce" with its sections Psyllophorce 

 and Capitatce ; but if we, furthermore, include the basal, long- 

 peduncled spikes as being merely a part of the main inflores- 

 cence, the plant becomes better referable to the group Hetero- 

 stachyce. In these the lateral peduncles are provided with a 

 clado-prophyllon at their base, an organ which is, also, present 

 in C. Willdenowii. The basal position of these lateral spikes, 

 or to be exact "spicate inflorescences," is very characteristic in 

 C. Willdenowii, wbile these are situated higher up on the 

 culm in most of the JTeterostachyce, and are more or less remote 

 from each other, as we remember from C. sylvatica Huds., C. 

 laxiflora Lam., etc. This distinction, drawn from the basal 

 position of the lateral inflorescences in C. Willdenowii and its 

 nearest allies C. Steudelii and C. Backii, is not, however, 

 applicable only to these species, but to several others, which 

 show no affinities or immediate relationship to the members of 

 Phyllostachys. It is to be observed in C. hasilaris Jord., C. 

 phalaroides Kth., C. peduncidata Muhl., C. LinTtii Schk. and 

 in C. cedtpostyla Duv.-Jouve, which may belong to the sec- 

 tions Trachyc /licence and Dactylostachyce of Drejer. While thus 

 our species of Phyllostachys may be arranged very naturally 

 among the Heterostachyce, still another disposition may be 

 made when we examine the section Vigneastra of Tucker- 

 mann. As described by this author, these species possess 

 decompound, ramified inflorescences, which are always andro- 

 gynous, male at the top, and may have two or three stigmata. If 

 we, carefully, compare these species with Phyllostachys, we soon 

 discover that each branch of C. cladostachya Wahlbg., for 

 instance, corresponds to a complete flower-bearing stem of C. 

 Backii with its terminal and axillary inflorescences. 



The clado-prophylla P in C. cladostachya (fig. I) correspond to 

 those same organs, P, in C. Backii (fig. II) ; the bracts L corre- 

 spond to the green leaves L in C. Backii, of which only the scars 

 are indicated ; the androgynous spikes A, B, C and D to those of 



