Js1frochcetfi.~\ 
CYPERACEAi. 
417 
Spikelets solitary 1. A. elongata. 
Spikelets crowded 2. A. nitens. 
1. A. elongata, Kunth , Enum. ii. 312. A coarse erect perennial, 
several feet high. Leaves in a dense basal tuft, linear, coriaceous, 3 
feet long, | in. broad, denticulate on the edge. Panicle If ft. long, 
with many distant ascending decompound branches, the lower brac- 
teated by linear coriaceous leaves 3-4 in. long ; pedicels often as long as 
the spikelets, with small subulate bracts at the base ; spikelets iin. long, 
with one or two perfect flowers. Outer glumes minute, deltoid, cuspi- 
date ; fertile glume lanceolate, brown, membranous, £ in. long ; rachis 
flexuose, flattened, 3-ribbed ; two upper glumes smaller, empty. 
Achene minute, oblong- triquetrous, rostrate, surrounded by 7-8 flat- 
tened pubescent bristles, several times longer than itself. Carpha 
elongata, BoecM. in xxxviii. 273. 
Seychelles, common in open places on the mountains of Mahe, Home, 626 ! 
Mauritius, Thouars. Endemic. My description is taken entirely from the Sey- 
chelles plant. 
2. A. nitens, Kunth , Enum. ii. 313. Leaves coriaceous, a 
foot or more long, -§— 1 £ in. broad. Stem 1J-3 feet long, slender, 
leafy, obsoletely trigonous. Panicle 1-1§ ft. long, with many de- 
compound rather drooping branches, the lowest the longest, bracteated 
by linear leaves. Spikelets clustered, £ in. long, 2-flowered. Glumes 6, 
oblong-lanceolate, subacute, pale reddish brown. Achene underpin, 
long, ferruginous, ellipsoid-triquetrous, strongly reticulated, sur- 
rounded by 6 longer unequal scabrous bristles. Carpha Aubertii, 
Nees in Linncea , ix. 300. 
Mauritius, Hu Tetit Thouars. Endemic. I have not seen specimens. 
7. ISOLEPIS, R. Br. 
Flowers hermaphrodite, arranged in many- flowered spikelets. Glumes 
multifarious. Hypogynous bristles 0. Stamens usually 3. Style 
trifid, not swollen at the base. Achene triquetrous.—Swamp annuals, 
or perennials, with the habit of Scirpus , from which they only differ 
by the want of hypogynous bristles. Distrib. Cosmopolitan. Species 
50 or more. 
Leaves none. Head of spikelets lateral 1. I. supina. 
Leaves subulate. Head of spikelets terminal 2. I. barbata. 
1. I. supina, R. Br. ; Kunth , Enum. ii. 196. Stems densely tufted, 
erect, slender, terete, f-1 foot long, with only a basal sheath, not pro- 
duced into any lamina. Spikelets 2-6, all sessile in a single lateral 
cluster, usually above the middle of the stem, in. long, 10-1.5- 
flowered. Glumes much imbricated, oblong-navicular, strongly mucro- 
nate, £ in. long, green or tinged with brown. Stamens 3. Achene 
2 E 
