SCLERIA. 



CYPERACE^E. 



367 



Tribe VII. SCLERIEjE. Nees. 



Flowers diclinous (monoecious or rarely dioecious). Fertile spikelets one-flowered. Scales 

 fasciculate or irregularly imbricated ; tfie lower ones empty, often seated in a cup or 

 torus. Perigynium 3 - 5-lobed or entire, sometimes consisting of tooth-like processes, 

 either free or combined with the torus, sometimes ivanting. Stigmas 3 (rarely 2). 

 Achenium nut-like ; the shell usually bony or somewhat crustaceous. — Culms triangular. 

 Inflorescence in glomerate spikes, or racemose, axillary and terminal. 



13. SCLERIA. "Berg. act. Holm. 1765, ex Endl. gen. 964." NUT-RUSH. 

 [ From the Greek, sklents, hard ; the achenia of many species being bony.] 



Fertile spikelets one-flowered ; the sterile several-flowered. Torus shallow, saucer-like or 

 lobed. Perigynium coriaceous or crustaceous, sometimes wanting. Achenium globose or 

 ovoid. — Habit that of the tribe. 



* Scleria proper. Achenium pitied, and more or less reticulated. Cupula 3-lobcd. Perigynium 3-parled. 



1. Scleria reticularis, Michx. Sessile- spiked Nut-rush. 



Culm erect, retrorsely scabrous on the angles towards the base ; fascicles lateral and ter- 

 minal, remote, nearly or quite sessile, somewhat branching, rather loosely flowered ; scales 

 and bracts smooth ; achenium globose, conspicuously reticulated with elevated lines, and 

 deeply pitted between the lines ; perigynium 3-lobed , the lobes ovate-lanceolate. — Michx. 

 ft. 2. p. 167 (not of Pursh, Ell. $ Muhl.) ; Willd. sp. 4. p. 314 ; Torr. Cyp. p. 375. 



Culm about a foot or 15 inches high, triangular, somewhat compressed and slender. Leaves 

 line wide, smooth, flat. Fascicles of spikelets about an inch long ; the lateral ones 2-3 

 in number, and very remote, standing on nearly included peduncles. Spikelets in pairs ; the 

 sterile lanceolate, on a short stipe at the base of the fertile spikelet, many-flowered ; the scales 

 distichous, lanceolate, each bearing 2 stamens : fertile spikelets mostly of 3 ovate, mucronate 

 and carinate scales ; the 2 interior embracing the achenium at its base. Style 3-cleft nearly 

 to the base. Achenium crustaceous, exactly globose, whitish or pale brown ; the surface 

 strongly reticulated ; the interstices oblong and deeply pitted Perigynium conspicuous, 

 rigid, of a pale greenish color, equally 3-lobed, closely appressed and partly adherent to the 

 achenium. 



Sandy swamps and borders of ponds. Suffolk county, Long Island. Fl. August. Fr. 

 September. Nearly allied to S. tessellata of the East Indies. 



