Refugium Botaiiicuin.] 
[SejJtember, 1870. 
TAB. 240. 
Natural Order Cyperace^. 
Tribe Cypere^. 
Genus Cyperus, Linn. 
C. coMPREssus {Limi. Sp. Plant, p. 68). Caespitosa, glaberrima, foliis 
angiiste linearibus graminoideis culmo triquetro erecto plerisque 
brevioribus, bracteis 4 — 6 foliiformibus, umbellte radiis 1 — 8 cen- 
tralibus saepe sessilibus exterioribus longe pedunculatis, umbellulis 
simplicibus vel compositis, bracteolis linearibus, spicis in fasciculo 
3 — 6 valde corapressis 6 — 12-plo longioribus quam latis utrinque 
12 — 18-floris, glumis ovatis acuminatis viridibus nervatis ciliatis 
acute carinatis, achseniis nitidis castaneis obovoideis acute triquetris 
glumis 3 — 4-plo brevioribus, stigmatibus 3 filiformibus. — Kiinth, 
Enum. ii. 28. 
Diffused through the tropics all round the world. 
Densely csespitose, the whole plant quite glabrous. Leaves 
about half-a-dozen to a culm, all leaving the stem within a couple 
of inches of the base ; the sheaths scariose ; the blade linear, 
grass-green, four to six inches long, a line to two lines broad, 
narrowed gradually to the point. Culm erect, triquetrous, three 
to twelve inches long, varying greatly in robustness according to 
the place in which the plant has grown. Bracts of the umbel 
four to six, just like the leaves. Rays of the umbel one to eight, 
the central usually sessile, the outer long-stalked. Umbellules 
simple or again compound ; the spikes usually three to six in a 
fascicle, with twelve to eighteen pairs of florets, much com- 
presssed, six to twelve lines long. Glumes ovate-acuminate, 
acutely keeled, a line long, green, inconspicuously ciliated. Nut 
obovoid, acutely triquetrous, chesnut-coloured, a third of a line 
long by about half as broad. Stigmas three, filiform, as long as 
the ovary. 
Tab, 240, — 1, a pair of spikelets ; 2, a single flower with its glume; 
3, stamens and pistil ; 4, a single stamen : all magnified. — J. G. B. 
Very few of the tropical species of Cyperus have been drawn 
from the living plant, and I thought it therefore desirable to give 
a figure of this one, which is common and widely dispersed in 
the tropical world. I procured it from chance seeds sent in earth 
received from Bahia. It thrives in a warm greenhouse, grown in 
turfy loam and peat, and well supplied with water. — W. W. S. 
