280 North American Cyperacecs. 
Cypenis Michaiixianus, torosns, jpennatus, &c. This profound 
boianist remarks, that Mariscus differs from Cyperus only in its 
few-flowered spikelet, but he does not seem inclined to unite the 
two genera.* Nees has more recentlyt endeavoured to cha- 
racterize Mariscus by the deciduous spikelet, separating at a 
kind of articulation, immediately above tlie two lowest scales, 
which remaining attached to the rachis, give it a chaffy appear- 
ance.f But the same kind of separation takes place in C 
strigosus-, and probably in many other species. 
§ 3. Interior scales herbaceous, free. — Papyrus. 
33. Cyperus erythrorhizos, Muhl. 
Umbel compound, many-rayed; involucre 4 — 5-leaved, very 
long ; involucels setaceous, shorter than the partial rays ; 
spikes cyHndrical-oblong, nearly sessile ; spikelets very nume- 
rous, spreading horizontally, terete-compressed, many-flowered; 
scales lanceolate, mucronate ; interior scales lanceolate, acute, 
free their whole, length. 
C. erythrorhizos, Muhl.! gram. p. 20; Schull. mant. 2. p. 120.- 
C. tenuiflorus, Elliott, sk. 1. p. 70. (not of Rotth.) 
Culm 2 — 3 feet high, obtusely triangular, very smooth. Leaves shorter 
than the culm, 2 — 4 lines wide. Umbel about 7-rayed ; the rays 3 — 4 inches 
long, each bearing 3 — 4 partial rays, which are crowded with spikelets 
nearly their whole length. Ochrece obliquely truncate, entire. Involucre 
three times as long as the umbel. Spilcclcts half an inch long, linear,- 
10 — 18-flowered. Scales closely imbricated, chestnut-coloured, shining, 
without nerves. Interior scales cuspidate, one third the length of the 
• ((' 
» Limites itaque inter Cyperum, Mariscum et Kyllingam omnino 
artificiales, at genera minime conjungenda sint." R. Brown, prodr. I. e. 
f Synops. gen. Cyp. in Linnaa, vol. 9, and in Wight's contrib. pp. 
69 and 89. 
% " Diflfert a Cypcro spiculis a squamis inferioribus articulo solubilibus, 
rachi residua post lapsum spicularum quasi paleacea remanente." JV. 
abE. 
