Eleocharis. 



CYPERACE.E. 



349 



Culm 8-12 inches high, slender and wiry, pale green ; the base clothed with one or two 

 obliquely truncated sheaths. Spike 3-4 lines long, 12 - 16-flowered. Scales pale green or 

 whitish mixed with light brown, of a firm cartilaginous texture. Bristles 6, strong, longer than 

 the achenium, hispid downward. Stamens 3. Style 3-cleft. Achenium large and bulging out 

 the scale, shining, marked with longitudinal lines and intermediate rows of shallow indenta- 

 tions ; thus appearing somewhat reticulated. Tubercle shaped like a cap, mostly obtuse, of 

 a soft spongy texture, whitish, free around the base. 



Sandy swamps, Long Island. Fl. August, Fr. September. 



*** Scirpidium, Noes. Spike ovate or elongated. Scales membranaceous. Bristles 1-4, slender and brittle (rarely 

 wanting). Style 3-clcft. Achenium triangular ; the angles often ribbed. 



7. Eleocharis acicularis, R. Br. Capillary Spike-rush. 



Culm setaceous, angular and sulcate ; spike ovoid, compressed, acute, few-flowered ; scales 

 oblong, rather obtuse ; bristles 3-4, short and very slender (sometimes none) ; achenium 

 obovate-oblong, rather acute at each end, obscurely triangular ; the angles prominent, with 

 less distinct intermediate ribs, and transversely striate ; tubercle minute, conical-triangular. — 

 R. Brown, prodr. 1. p. 224 (in obs.) ; Rcem. Schult. syst. 2. p. 154 ; Torr. Cyp. p. 308 ; 

 Kunth, enu/n. 2. p. 141. Scirpus acicularis, Linn. sp. 1. p. 48 ; Pursh, fl. 1. p. 54 ; Torr. 

 fl. 1. p. 45 ; Beck, hot. p. 424 ; Darlingt. fl. Cest. p. 20. S. trichodes, Mulil. gram. p. 30 ; 

 Ell. sk. 1. p. 76 ; Bigel. fl. Bost. p. 20. S. capillaceus, Mich. fl. 1. p. 30. Scirpidium 

 aciculare, Nees in Linncza, 9. p. 293. Chastocyperus acicularis, Nees, Cyp. in Endl. <£• 

 Mart. fl. Bras. p. 95. 



Annual ? Culm 1-8 inches long, commonly very slender and hair-like. Spike 2-3 lines 

 long, seldom more than 5 - 8-flowered. Scales often barren, greenish, with a purple stripe on 

 each side. Bristles shorter than the nut, very slender and fragile. Stamens 3. Style 3-cleft 

 about half its length. Achenium whitish or pale straw-color, shining, often contracted at the 

 neck, tumid, with ribbed angles, and usually the sides with two ridges and conspicuous trans- 

 verse lines. Tubercle broad at the base, with a short abrupt triangular beak. 



In water, and on the muddy margins of ponds. Fl. June - July. Fr. August. After a 

 new examination of this plant (which Nees refers to his Chcetocyperns pohjmorplta), I cannot 

 find that it differs from S. acicularis of Europe. When growing in water, the culms are 

 quite capillary ; but in drier situations, they are stouter and dwarfish, being sometimes scarcely 

 more than an inch high, and forming large patches, 



8. Eleocharis tenuis, Schult. Slender Spike-rush. 



Culm filiform, quadrangular, with the sides concave ; spike elliptical, somewhat acute at 

 each end ; scales ovate, obtuse ; bristles 2-3, or none ; achenium obovoid-triangular, with 

 the angles prominent, strongly pitted and somewhat corrugated transversely, often slightly 



