440 



T. Holm — Studies in the Cyperacece. 



other species F. laxa (fig. 2) comes nearest to F. autumnalis, 

 since the superior epidermis is only composed of one layer, 

 but the leaf is much narrower and the blade is not placed 

 edgewise ; furthermore the leaves are tristichous. In F. 

 spaclicea the accompanying figure (fig. 3) shows that the epi- 

 dermis has been developed in a few strata, but only in certain 

 places, between the mestome-bundles. It is very strange that 

 this species has often been considered as identical with F. 

 castanea or at least as the type, since both are so very different, 



Fig. 2. Transverse section of leaf-blade of F. laxa. x 75. 



•Fig. 3. Transverse section of half of the leaf-blade of F spadicea. x 75. 



when considered from an anatomical point of view. By 

 examining the leaf of F. jpuberula (fig. 4) we notice that the 

 upper surface is occupied by a huge mass of colorless and rela- 

 tive large cells, which represent an epidermis of several layers. 

 Besides this the epidermis of the inferior surface is developed 

 as a dense covering of long, unicellular hairs, a fact that would 



Fig. 4. 



Transverse section of half of the leaf-blade of F. puberula. x 7 5. 



seem to point towards some special adaptation, " a xerophytic 

 character developed in a hydrophilous plant"; yet the species 

 is neither a hydrophyte or xerophyte as these terms are gen- 



