374 North American Cyperacece. 
2. Cladium effusum. 
Culm obtusely triangular; leaves sharply serrate upward ; 
corymbs numerous, decompound, diffuse, approximated and 
forming an elongated panicle ; style 3 — 4-cleft. 
Schoenus efFusus, Sivartz,prodr. p. 19 ? ; Muhl. ! gram. p. 13 ; Elliott, 
sk. 1. p. 57. 
S. Mariscus, /3. effusus, Pers. syn. 1. p. 58. 
Culm 6 — 10 feet high. Leaves 1 — 3 feet long, 4 — 10 lines wide, 
smooth, except on the margin and midrib which are verj'' acutely serrate 
upward, the extremity tapering to a long triangular point. Corymbs 
proceeding from the sheaths of the leaves on the upper part of the culm, 
forming a large oblong panicle. Sj)ikes 3 — 4 together, about two lines 
long, ovate, acute. Scales about 6, brown, the uppermost only produc- 
ing a perfect flower, the one below it bearing only stamens ; in both the 
number of stamens constantly 2. Nut ovate, abruptly pointed, finely 
WTinkled longitudinally, upper part of the pericarp corky. 
Hab. Ponds and fresh marshes. Wilmington and New- 
bern, North Carolina, Mr. Curtis! SfMr. Croom! ; South Caro- 
lina, Elliott; New Orleans and Texas, T. Drummond ! — Aug. 
— September. 
Obs. a tall rank sedge, known at the South by the name 
of Saw-grass. R. Brown {prodr. p. 236) refers to his C. 
Mariscus, Schoenus Mariscus, Linn., S. Cladium and S. 
effusus, Sioartz, and if his plant is identical with C. Germani- 
cum, ScJirad., (to which Schoenus Mariscus, Linn, is generally 
referred) it must be distinct from ours. The description of S. 
effusus in the Prodromus of Swartz is so brief that we cannot 
satisfactorily determine whether it is the same as our C 
effusion. Sprengel refers it to C. occidentale, Schrad., but that 
is described as having bristles at the base of the nut, a character 
which does not belong to any genuine Cladium. 
