312 Noith American Cyperacecf^ 
"§.. 7. Spike compressed, often somewhat distichous; scakf 
membranaceous, bristles slender, nv.t triangular ; style threes- 
cleft. C YPEROSCIRPUS . 
17^ Eleocharis microcarpa. 
Culm capillary, quadrangular, with three of tne sides chan- 
nelled; spikes oblong, compressed, (often proliferous) 10 — 20- 
flowered ; scales broadly ovate, rather acute, somewhat cari- 
nate, the lowest one much the largest ; bristles 3 — 5, shorter 
than the nut, slender; fragile ; nut minute, obovate, obtusely 
triangular, smooth ; tubercle very minute, closely sessile. 
Culms 6 — S inclies long, a little thicker than a human hsir. Spikes 
nearly 2 lines long, frequently proliferous ; the axil of one or more of the 
lowest scales bearing a pediinculate spikelet. Scales rather loose, some- 
what acuminate but scarcely acute, all of thein deciduous, except the 
lowest one, which may be regarded as a bract or reduced one-leaved in- 
volucre; margin whitish ; the sides brownish-red. jBns^Zes very slender, 
closely appressed to the sides of the nut, and not half its length. Stamens 
3. Nut scarcely one-third of a line long, grayish white, very smooth. 
Tubercle triangular, apicirlate, scarcely free round the base. 
Hab. Wet places. Near Orleans, Dr. Ingallsf 
Obs. The species of this section resemble in their compres- 
sed and somewhat distichous spikes the genus Choetocyperus, 
but in other respects tliey have all the characters of Eleocliaris. 
In some of the spikes of the present species, the axil of the 
lower scales bears a slender peduncle instead of a flower, sup.- 
porting a spike at its summit, as mCliiCtocyperus Baldicinii. 
/3 ^ Jilictdmis. Culms cespitose, capillaiy or filiform, quacF- 
rangalar, wiry ; spikes oblong ; bristles nearly as long as the 
nut without the tubercle ; nut obovate-oblong. 
Culms 3 — 4 inches high. Spikes more than two lines long. Scales. 
dark chestnut-coloured; 
Hab. Wet places in the pine barrens of New Jersey. 
