MOKOCOTYLEDON"OUS OR ENDOGENOUS PLANTS. 581 



§ 2. CHirocYPBaUo. Spikes few-flowered^ compressed ; scales membranaceous, imbri- 

 cated in 2-3 rows ; style 3-cle/t ; culms capillary. 



E. ACicuLARis, K. Br. Cuhns (2-12' high) angled; 

 spikes ovate, 5-G-flowered, acute ; scales oblong, with red- 

 disli sides; nut oblong, white, nearly terete, longitudi- 

 nally ribbjd and pitted, pointed with the conical or de- 

 pressed tubercle ; bristles 3-4, shorter than the nut, some- 

 times wanting. (Scirpus trichodes, Muhl.) Margins of 

 ponds. June-September. 



E. PYGM.EA, Torr. Culms short (1-2' high), grooved 

 on one side ; spikes ovate, 3-6-flowered ; scales whitish, 

 ovate ; nut ovate, pale, prominently 3-angled, smooth and 

 shining, narrowed above into the minute tubercle ; bristles 

 6, longer than the nut, sometimes wanting. (Scirpus ca- 

 pillaceus, Ell.) Muddy or sandy banks near the coast. 

 April-July. Ehizoma very slender, bearing minute tuber- 

 like buds ; spikes l"-2" long. 



SCIRPUS, L. Bulrush. 



Spikes terete, single, or oftener in clusters or umbels, 

 which are subtended l?y a 1-many-leaved involucre ; scales 

 imbricated in several rows ; 7iut obtuse, or pointed by the 

 persistent jointless base of the style ; tubercle none; culms 

 jointed and leafy, or leafy or sheathed only at the base. 

 Otherwise like Eleocharis. Perennial. 



§ Culms jointless ; leaves or sheaths radical. 

 * Spike solitary, terminal. 



S. c^sPiTosus, L. Culms tufted (6-10' high), terete, 

 wiry; sheaths numerous, rigid, imbricated, the uppermost 

 ending in a short leaf; spike 3-8-flowered ; involucre 

 2-leaved, as long as the spike, pointed ; nut oblong, com- 

 pressed-3-angled, abruptly pointed, half as long as the 

 smooth capillary bristles. Mountains. July. Ehizoma 

 thick and creeping; spike l"-2" long. 



