400 CYPERACEiE. 



at maturity ; bristles rusty-colored, much longer than the pointless scalts ; achtn- 

 ium short-pointed. 



Wet meadows, common. July. Aug. A somewhat variable species 2 to 5 feet 

 high, leafy near to the top. Leaves 1 to 2 feet long, fiat above, rough on the mar- 

 gin. Scales with the sides brown and the keel green. 



G. ERIOPH ORUM, Linn. Cotton-grass. 



Sr. ericn, wool or cotton, and phora, bearing. 



Spike in any-flowered. Scales imbricated all round in 

 several ranks. Perianth woolly, of numerous flat hairs, 

 much longer than the scales, persistent and forming a silky 

 or cotton-like usually white tuft in fruit. Stamens 3. 

 Style 3-cleft. — Perennials, icith mostly leafy stems, and 

 mostly umbdled spikdets, finally clothed v:ith long silky hairs. 



1. E. TlKGINICTTM, L. Virginian Cotton-grass. 



Culm rigid, nearly terete below, obtu3ely triangular above ; haves narrowly- 

 linear, elongated, fiat; spiles crowded in a dense cluster or head ; wool rusty-color, 

 3 times tl»e length of the scale;, stamen 1» 



Bogs and low meadows, common. July, Aug. Culm 2 to 4 feet hi-ih, leafy. 

 Scales with pale sides and a green keel. Hairs very numerous, tawny. 



2. E. polystachyon, L. Broad-leaved Cotton-grass. 



Culm rigid, obscurely triangular; leaves linear flat, or barely channelled below*- 

 triangular at the point; involucre 2 or 3-leaved; spiles several, on nodding pe- 

 duncles, some of them elongated in fruit. 



Bogs and marshes, common. June, ripe in Aug. A variable species. Culm 1 

 to 2 feet high, smooth. Scales green, at length brown. Huirs very numerous, 

 long, white with a reddish tinge, 1 inch long. 



7. FIMBKISTYLIS, Yahl. 



Lat. fimbria, a fringe, and stylus, a style; from the ciliate ityle. 



Spikes several to many-flowered. Scales regularly im- 

 bricated, in several ranks. Bristles none. Stamens 1 to 

 3. Style 2 or 3-cleft, with a thickened or bulb-like base,, 

 deciduous. — Perennials with leafy culms, and cymosc-vm- 

 helled spikes, as in Scirpus. 



Sec. i. .SiJJBaiSTYi/js proper. — Style 2-cIeft, mostly fiat and ciliate en the margin. 



1. P. LAX A, Yahl. 



Culms grooved and dattisb. slender: leaves chiefly from the 1 -ase. narrowly linear, 

 fiat, channelled, ciliate-dentieulate, glaucous; umbel simple cr compound ; htrotu- 

 ere about 3-leaved ; spiles ovate, acute; stamen single; achenium 6 to S-ridged-ou 

 each side. 



Low clayey soil. July, Aug. Culm 4 to 12 inches high. Umbel small, seme of 

 the rays divided. Spikes l /± inoh long. 



Sec. n. Trichelosttlis, Lcstib. Style 3-cleft, scperating from the triangular 

 achenium. 



2. F. autumnalis, Roem. & Schultes. 



Low, tufted; culms flat, often diffusely spreading; leave* flat, very acuta , mk 



