cxii. cyperacea; 
551 
CXII. CYPERACE^E 
Perennial, rarely annual herbs with the aspect of Grasses but 
usually more rigid, sometimes rush-like; stems solid, terete or 
angled. Leaves narrow, pointed, often sharply edged ; sheaths 
tubular, not split d own one side as in the true grasses. Flowers male, 
female or 2-sexual. Nut-bearing flowers 2-sexual in all genera, 
except Kobresia and Garex, in w r hich they are female. Perfect 
perianth none, but in some genera represented by a few hypogynous 
bristles or scales. Male flowers in all the genera consisting of 1-3 
stamens, filaments free, thread-like ; anthers linear, 2-celled, basi- 
fixed. Female and 2-sexual flowers: stamens, if present, as in the 
male flowers ; ovary 1-celled, flattened and having 2-branched 
styles or 3-sided and having 3-branched styles ; ovule solitary, 
basal. In Kobresia the ovary is enclosed in a bract or utricle split 
nearly to its base on one side ; in Garex, in a bag-like bract or 
utricle ; in all other genera it is in the axil of a bract. Fruit a 
small, flattened or 3-sided nut ; embryo minute, at the very base of 
the nut, its position not indicated externally by a scar or spot as in 
the Grasses. Flowers solitary in the axils of small bracts or glumes 
combined in spikelets. Spikelets having the glumes arranged spirally 
round the axis or in two opposite rows, solitary or several or many, 
forming spikes, panicles, simple or compound umbels, corymbs or 
heads with a few spreading, rarely erect, leaf-like bracts at the base. 
— Nearly all regions, usually growing in damp or marshy ground. 
Plants of this Order and of the Graminece flower at almost all seasons. They 
mostly inhabit swamps and wet pastures, and several of the annual species of 
Cyperus form a conspicuous feature among the weeds of the rice-fields in the 
plains. 
A. Nut-bearing flowers containing perfect stamens 
* Glumes in two opposite rows 
Axis of fruiting spikelet disarticulating and falling off. 
Style 2-branched . . . . . . . 1. 
Style 3-branched . .4. 
Axis of fruiting spikelet persistent. 
Style 2-branched 2. 
Style 3-branched ........ 3. 
* * Glumes imbricated all round the axis 
Flowers with bristles or scales: 
Bristles 6-9, not longer than the glumes. 
Nut crowned by the swollen style-base .... 5. Eleocharis. 
Nut pointed ; style-base not swollen .... 8. Scirpus. 1 
1 In some species of Scirpus bristles are present, in others they are absent. 
Kyllinga. 
Mariscus. 
Pycreus. 
Cyperus. 
