891 ERlOCAULOXACEiE. 



XYKIS, Linn. Yellow-eyed Grass. 



Gr. xyros, sharp, in allusion to the pointed leaver. 



Perianth in 2 rows ; outer row glumaceous, 2 of the 

 segments boat-shaped or keeled; inner row petal-like, with 

 claws, more or less coherent. Stamens 6, 3 fertile with 

 linear anthers, and 3 sterile, plume-bearing. Style 3-cleft. 

 Capsule oblong, free, 1-celled, with 3 parietal placentae, 3- 

 Valved.— Rush-like herbs, with narrowly linear rigid radical 

 leaves, sheathing the scape, and yellow flowers in a terminal dense 

 head. 



\. X. Caroliniana, Walt. Common Yellow-eyed Grass. 



Scape flatdsh, somewhat 2-edged at the summit, 1-angled below, smooth; leaves 

 linear-en- iforrn, flat; head globular-ovoid; lateral sepals obscurely torn-fringed 

 above on the winged keel, rather shorter than the bract. 



Wet meadows, rare. July. Aug. Per. Seupel to 2 feet high, somewhat bulbous 

 at the base, often spirally twisted. Leaves few flat, (5 to 12 incb.es long, V£ to-% 

 inch wide. Petals rather large, yellow, the claws turning brownish. 



2. X. ERZVIFOLTA, Michx. Short-leaved Yellow-eyed Grass. 



Leaves subulate, ensiform, short: head globose; petals shorter than the sepals 

 slightly notched. 



Wet meadows, rare. July. Per. Scape 12 to 18 inches high, compressed near 

 the summit. Leouves much twisted. Flowers yellow. 



Order 131. EFJQ0AULQEFACE2S.-- Piptmrt Family. 



lie or marsh j.lanfs, usually c caulescent, will t linear* eettidar spongy leaves 

 naked scapes sheathed at the base, and bearing dense heads cf monoecious or diax una 

 minute flowers in the axils of intrude bracts, with a doable perianth, vmtrorse anthers 



and a 2 to Z-cdled 2 to S-seeded capsule ; principally represented by the genua 



EKIOCAULON, Gronov. Pipewort. 



Gr. erion, wool, and Jcdrdos, a stalk ; from the woolly scape of many species. 



Flowers chiefly monoecious ; the central ones of the 

 head sterile, bearing 4 or 6 stamens, the exterior fertile. 

 Sepals 2 or 3, the lateral ones boat-shaped. Corolla 

 tubular and 2 to 3-lobed in the sterile flowers ; of 2 or 3 

 scpab in the fertile, each bearing a black gland. Style 2 

 to 3-parted. Capsule 2 to 3-celled, loculicidal. — Herbaceous 

 plants, with smooth often pellucid leaves, simple scapes bear- 

 ing a single head, the bracts and perianth whitened at the 

 summit with a clothing of dense fine wool and the outer brmcts 

 scarious, often empty and forming a kind of involucre. 



E. SEPTANGULARE, Withering. Jointed Pipewort. 



Scape slender, 6 to 7-angled or furrowed ; leaves subulate-cubiform, conspicuous- 

 ly cellular, pellucid; outer bracts sbovate, rcunded ; head *mall, round. 



