DtTLICHIUM. 



CYPERACEiE. 



337 



Tribe I. CYPEREjE. Nees. 



Flowers perfect. Spikelets distichously imbricated, mostly naked, many- {rarely \-)jloivered. 

 Perigynium none or setaceous. Achenium compressed or triangular, rarely beaked with 

 the persistent base of the style. 



1. DULICHIUM. Rich, in Pers. syn. 1. p. 65 ; Torr. North Amer. Cyp. in arm. lyc. N. 



York, 3. p. 247. DULICHIUM. 



[DulicMum is the name of a Grecian island mentioned by Homer; but why applied to this genus, we know not.] 



Spikelets elongated, compressed, many-flowered ; the scales 2-ranked. Bristles 6-9, rigid, 

 retrorsely hispid. Stamens 3. Style very long, 2-cleft. Achenium compressed, linear- 

 oblong, pointed with the long persistent style. — Culm nearly terete, clothed with spreading 

 leaves. Spikes axillary, compound ; the spikelets distichously arranged on a common rachis. 



1. Dulichium spathaceum, Pers. Dulichium. 



Pers. I. c. ; Pursh, fl. 1. p. 53 ; Ell. sk. 1. p. 73. t. 2. /. 3 ; Torr. fl. 1. p. 58 ; Beck, 

 hot. p. 442 ; Darlingt. fl. Cest. p. 17; Torr. Cyp. 1. c. p. 247; Kunth, enum. 2. p. 329. 

 D. Canadense, Pers. I. c ; Pursh, I. c. Schoenus spathaceus, Linn. sp. (ed. 2.) 1. p. 63. 

 S. angustifolius, Vahl, enum. 2. p. 225. Scirpus spathaceus, Michx.fl. 1. p. 32. Cyperus 

 spathaceus, Linn. syst. p. 84 ; Willd. sp. 1. p. 289 ; Muhl. gram. p. 26 ; Bigel.fl. Bost. 

 p. 19. 



Culm 12-18 inches high, terete below, obscurely triangular above. Leaves flat, linear, 

 spreading almost horizontally in three directions. Spikes or racemes on short exserted pe- 

 duncles which proceed from the sheaths of the leaves, each bearing from 8-14 narrowly 

 lanceolate spreading spikelets, which are about three -fourths of an inch long. Spikelets 

 6 - 10-flowered ; the rachis flexuous, excavated by the pressure of the achenia. Scales 

 lanceolate, acute, yellowish-ferruginous, with a green keel. Bristles seldom less than 7 and 

 often 9, slightly exserted at maturity. Style attenuated to a long point. Achenium about a 

 line and a half long, smooth and dull, contracted at the base, crowned with the persistent style, 

 which is not articulate. 



Borders of ponds, and in swamps : common. Fl. July. Fr. September. Resembles 

 CyperejE in its distichous spikelets ; but in its bristles, and rostrate fruit, it recedes from that 

 tribe. 



[Flora — Vol. 2.] 



43 



