350 



CYPERACE.E. 



ElEOCIIARI3. 



papillose, crowned with a minute short triangular tubercle. — Schult. mant. 2. p. 89 ; Torr. 

 Cyp.p. 309 ; Kunth, enum. 2. p. 145. Scirpus tenuis, Willd. enum. 1. p. 76 ; Muhl. gram, 

 p. 27 ; Torr. fl. 1. p. 44 ; Bigel. fl. Bost. p. 21"; Beck, hot. p. 425 ; Darlingt. fl. Cest. 

 p. 20. S. quadrangulatus, Muhl. cat. p. 6 (not of Michx.). 



Culms scarcely thicker than a horsehair, erect, 6-15 inches long, acutely quadrangular ; 

 the base clothed with one or two purple truncate sheaths. Spike, when young, rather obtuse. 

 Scales dark chestnut-colored, with a white scarious margin ; several of I he lowest ones larger 

 and empty. Bristles short, slender and fugacious. Style 3-cleft. Achenium whitish or of a 

 light brown color, much shorter than the scale, distinctly triangular, with the sides strongly 

 pitted in transverse rows, and marked likewise with fine longitudinal lines ; the summit 

 abruptly contracted into a short neck, on. which the minute tubercle stands. 



Bogs and wet meadows ; usually growing partly in the water. Fl. July. Fr. August. 



9. Eleocharis pygm^ea, Torr. Dwarf Spike-rush. 



Culm setaceous or acicular, much compressed and sulcate ; spike ovate-compressed, few- 

 flowered ; scales ovate; bristles mostly longer than the achenium (sometimes wanting), 

 retrorsely scabrous ; achenium ovoid, acutely triangular, smooth and shining ; tubercle very 

 minute and confluent, or almost wanting. — Torr. Cyp.p. 313. Scirpus pusillus, Pursh,jl. 1. 

 p. 54 ; Torr.Jl. 1. p. 46 (not of Vahl). S. capillaceus, Ell. sk. 1 . p. 75 (excl. syn. Michx.). 



Culms 1-2 inches high, often destitute of spikes, and then appearing like subulate leaves. 

 Spike about a line and a half in length, broadly ovate, 3 - 8-flowered, but seldom perfecting 

 more than one or two achenia : the lowest scale empty, very obtuse ; the others more or less 

 acute, especially when old. Bristles 6, whitish, slender. Nut rather acute at each end, but 

 broad in proportion to the length, grayish white. Tubercle extremely minute, forming a mere 

 triangular apex to the achenium. 



Salt marshes, and on the banks of rivers as far as the salt water reaches : common near 

 New-York, and on Long Island. Fl. August. Fr. September. 



5. SCIRPUS. R. Br. prodr. 1. p. 223 ; Torr. Cyp. I. c. p. 316. CLUB-RUSH. 



[Scirpus is an ancient Latin name for the bulrush.] 



Spikes many-flowered ; the scales imbricated on all sides. Bristles of the perigynium 3-6, 

 rigid, persistent, for the most part retrorsely hispid or denticulate. Style 2 - 3-cleft, simple 

 at the base, deciduous. Achenium biconvex or triangular. — Culms mostly triangular, simple, 

 often with leafless sheaths. Spikes conglomerated or corymbose, lateral or terminal, rarely 

 solitary and terminal. 



