Norlk Americmi Cyiieracca. 299 
the exception of a few slight denticulations, most of them overtop- 
ping the tubercle. Stamens 3 ; filaments long and slender. Style deeply 
3-cleft. Nut covered with a thick cellular integument, tumid, pale 
brown and shining, reticulated, and striated longitudinally. Tubercle 
large, of a whitish colour, confluent with the nut, so as to appear blended 
with it, of a spongy texture like the pericarp. 
Hab. Wet sandy marshes. Bay of St. Louis, Dr. 
Ingalls ! 
Obs. For this rare plant I am indebted to my friend Dr. 
Ingalls, who sent it to me under the name of Sclrpus rcticula- 
tus ; but there is a *S^. rctlculatus of Lamarck, and as the genus 
Eleocharis may possibly be hereafter restored to Scirpus, I 
have not retained the specific name of Dr. Ligalls. In its 
cylindrical spike and the structure of its scales, it resembles 
the species of the preceding section ; but in its s^iongy whitish 
tubercle, it is more nearly allied to the next group. The thick 
cellular covering of the nut is its most remarkable character. 
*§> 3. Spike ovate or oblong ; scales membranaceous, {rarely coria- 
ceous) very numerousy irregularly imbricated ; style mostly 
2-cleft ; nut obcvate, biconvex, smooth ; tubercle somewhat 
subcrose. — Eleocharis. 
4. Eleocharis palustris, II. Broivn. 
Culm terete, striate, spongy; spike oblong-lanceolate ; scales 
somewhat obtuse ; the two lowest large orbicular and empty ; 
bristles scabrous, longer than the nut ; style 2-cleft ; nut len- 
ticular, smooth, (fulvous) ; tubercle conical, acute, distinct. 
Eleocharis palustris, i?. Brown, inodr. 1. p. 224. {in Obs.); Ram. 
Sf Schult. syst. 2. p. 153; N. ab Esctib. in WighVs contrib. p. 113, 
Smith, Eng.Jl. 1. p. 63. 
Scirpus palustris, Linn.; Willd. sp. 1. p. 291; Pursh, fl. 1. p. 54; 
Elliott, sk. 1. p. 77; Muhl.I gram. p. 28; Torr.! fl. 1. p. 45; Big.fl. 
Bast. ed. 2. p. 20; Beck ! bat. p. 425 ; Darllngt. ! fl. cest. ed. 2. p. 19. 
