North American Cijperacece. 317 
keel, which is continued beyond the summit into a sharp cusp ; the lowest 
one terminating in a bristle, and usually projecting beyond the spike. 
Bristles 4 — 6, slender, nearly as long as the nut, hairy rather than den- 
ticulate, the hairs pointing upward. Sta}n€7is 3. Nut oblong, triquetrous, 
of a light bro^\'n colour, dull, minutely puncticulate, scarcely pointed. 
Style compressed, pubescent or ciliate, 3-cleft, separating entirely from 
the nut. 
Hab. Woods, often in dry stony situations ; also in bogs. 
Near A^ew York, not uncommon ! ; Xew Brimswick and Prince- 
ton, New Jersey! ; Deerfield, Massachusetts, Dr. Cooley! and 
Prof. HitchcocTi! ; near Boston, Dr. Bigelow; Washington 
county, New York, Dr. M. Stevenson! ; Pennsylvania and 
Delaware, Muhlenberg ! and Dr. Baldwin! — June. 
Obs. This species differs so much from all our Scirpi, 
that it may yet be removed to some other genus. It is remark- 
able that N. ab Esenbeck should have referred it to Eleocharis, 
since it has not the least trace of a tubercle ; and Sprengel, to 
whom I sent specimens many years ago, placed it in Isolepis, 
(which genus he reduced to a section of Scirpus in his Syst. Veg.) 
notwithstandino; its manifest bristles. 
2. Scirpus subter:mixalis, Torrey. 
Culm (immersed) filiform, terete, leafy at the base ; spike 
oblong-lanceolate, (emersed) shorter than the bract at the base ; 
scales ovate-lanceolate ; nut triangular, abruptly acuminated ; 
style 3-cleft. 
Scirpus subterminalis, Torr.! fl. 1. p. 47; Beck! hot. p. 42-5; Gray! 
Gram, c^ Cyp. part 2. no. 8 J 
Culm 1 — 3 feet long, growling under water, often roughened when dry 
by the irregular contraction of the pith. Leaves 6 — IS inches long, fili- 
form, channelled. Spike 3 — 4 lines long, with a narrow straight bract 
at the base extending beyond the spike, and appearing like a continuation 
of the culm. Scales membranaceous, somewhat mucronate, pale brown, 
with a green midrib. Bristles 6, rigid, retrorsely scabrous, nearly as 
long as the nut. Stamens 3. Style cleft nearly half-way down into 
three smooth divisions. Nyt large for the size of the spike, triquetrous, 
