North American Cyperaced. 323 
pubescent. Bristles 3 — 5, slender, fragile, retrorsely scabrous. Stamens 
3. Nut dark brown and rather dull, even, very convex in front, abruptly 
pointed. 
Hab. Swamps and wet meadows, both salt and fresh ; 
throughout North America, to the Arctic regions. A native 
also of iSouth America, Europe and New Holland. 
Obs. This species varies in the thickness of its culm, the 
size and number of the spikes, and their distance below the 
summit, &c. but it always preserves its essential characters. It 
does not appear to differ materially from the S. triqueter of 
Europe. Whether the S. mucronatus, Linn, is really a native 
of this country, I know not ; but the plant which Pursh has 
described under that name is a mere variety of S. triqneter, 
1 1. Spikes terminal. 
8. SciRPUs MARiTiMUs, Linu. 
Culm triquetrous, leafy; umbel simple or compound, often 
of few spikes and sessile, shorter than the involucre ; spikes 
oblong, (large and thick, rather obtuse) ; scales ovate, lacerately 
3-toothed, the midrib produced into a short recurved bristle ; 
style 3-cleft ; nut broadly obovate, lenticular, smooth and 
shining, much longer than the slender bristles. 
S. maritimus, Willd. sp. 306; Rosm. S^ Schult. syst. 2. p. 13S; R. 
Brown, prodr. 1. p. 224; N.ab Esenb. in Wights contrih. p. Ill ; Big. 
fi. Bost. ed. 2 p. 21; Beck! lot. p. 426; Gray! Gram. 8f Cyp. part 1 
no. 82. (in part.) 
S. macrostachyos, Muhl.! gram. p. 45, (in part) ; Torr. ! fl. 1. p. 50 
(in part.) 
S. naaritimus, /3 macrostachyos, Michx.! Ji. 1. p. 32. (in part.) 
S. robustus, Pursh! fl. 1. p. 5Q (in part.) 
Culm 1 — 4 feet high, thick, smooth, leafy below. Leaves 2 — 5 lines 
broad, carinate, as tall as the culm, smooth. Involucre foliaceous, about 2- 
leaved, much longer than the umbel. Spikes 3 — 20, nearly an inch in 
length and very thick, sometimes aggregated and sessile, but generally 
