North American Ci/pcraccce. 307 
^5. iS/>?^e ovate; scales coriaccom; hristles G, rigid; vnt 
triangular ; tubercle mitriform, vearhj as large as the nut, 
spongtj ; style '3-cleft. — INIitrocakpa. 
12. Eleocharis tuberculosa, jr. Brown. 
Culm terete, filiform, striate ; spike globose-ovate, some- 
what acute J scales broadly ovate, very obtuse, loose, subco- 
riaceous ; bristles rigid, retrorsely hispid ; nut oblong, obtusely 
triangular, striate and pitted longitudinally ; tubercle ovate, 
obtuse, subcompressed, nearly as large as the nut. 
Eleocliaris tuberculosa, i2. 5ro!i'n, j;roJr. 1. p. 224. {inohs.); Ram. 
4- Schult. syst. 2. p. 152. 
Scirpus tuberculosus, Michx..' Jl. 1. p. 30; Vahl, enum. 2. p. 248; 
Poir. enc. meth. 6. p. 75.3 ; Purshjl. 1. p. 54 ; Beck ! hot. p. 424 : Gray ! 
Gram. Sc Cyp. part 1. no. 79; Spreng. syst. 1. p. 203. 
S. tubcrculatus, Elliott, sk. 1. p. 78. 
S. no. 7, 3Lihl. ! gram. p. 29, 8^- herb. ! 
Culm S — 12 inches high, slender and wiry, pale green, clothed at 
the base with one or two obliquely truncated sheaths. Spike 3 — 4 lines 
long, 12 — 16-flowered. Scales pale green, or whitish, mixed with light 
hrown, of a firm cartilaginous texture. Bristles 6, strong, longer than 
the nut, but not exceeding the tubercle, hispid downward. Stamens 3. 
Style 3-cleft. Nut large, and bulging out the scale, shining, marked 
with longitudinal lines with intermediate rows of shallow indentations, 
and thus appearing somewhat reticulated. Tuhercle shaped like a cap, 
mostly obtuse, of a soft spongy texture, whitish, free round the base. 
Hab. Wet places ; particularly in sandy swamps ; seldom 
found far from tide-water ; Massachusetts to Florida, Tewks- 
bury, Massachusetts, B. D. Greene, Esq.! also near Salem in 
the same State, Dr. PicTcering ! ; pine barrens of New Jersey, 
abundant ! ; South Carolina, Michaux .', Elliott; East Florida, 
Dr. Baldwin! ; West Florida, Mr. Ware!; New Orleans, 
Dr. Ingalls ! — 'September. 
Obs. a species remarkable for its large thick tubercle, by 
which it is easily distinguished from every other plant of the 
^ibe Scirpeae. 
