420 
(jrPERA.CE.iE. 
tiaua, Tausch in Sieber, Herb. Maur. No. 28. F. Sieberiana, Kunth , 
Knum. ii. 237. 
Mauritius and Seychelles, in swamps. Spread through the tropics of both 
hemispheres. 
5. F. miliacea, Vahl ; Kunth, Knum. ii. 230. Perennial, densely 
tufted. Stums 1J-2 feet long, glabrous, acutely tetragonous. Leaves 
much shorter than the stem, narrow linear, glabrous, 1 foot long, 
l-ly in. broad. Spikelets very numerous, arranged in a lax umbel 
bracteated by several minute subulate leaves, each ovate, obtuse, 
Pg- in. long. Glumes oblong, brown, with a green keel, T j i n - long, 
obtuse, glabrous. Stamens 3. Style trifid, pilose. Achene very 
minute, obovoid, lenticular, whitish. Scirpus miliaceus, Linn . ; Rottb. 
Descr. 57, t. 5, fig. 2. Scirpus tetragonus, Loir. ; Bojer , Hort. Maur. 
383. Trichelostylis miliacea and tetragona, Kees. 
Mauritius and Seychelles, frequent in swamps. Also Madagascar, and spread 
through the tropics of the Old World. 
9. ELEOCHARIS, R. Br. 
Flowers hermaphrodite, arranged in solitary manv-flowered cylin- 
drical or oblong spikelets. Glumes multifarious. Hypogynous bristles 
3-8. Stamens usually 3. Style usually trifid. Achene usually 
triquetrous, crowned with the deltoid white persistent base of the 
style.— Swamp herbs, usually leafless, with terminal spikelets. Distrib. 
Cosmopolitan. Species about 50. 
Glumes membranous. 
Style bifid. Flowers 50 or more in a spikelet . . . 1. E. capitata. 
Style trifid. Flowers 8-12 in a spikelet 2. E. chcetaria. 
Glumes coriaceous ( Limnocharis , Nees). 
Stem furnished with transverse septa 3. E. plantaginea. 
Stem without transverse septa 4. E. variegata. 
1. E. capitata, R. Br. ; Kunth , Knum. ii. 150. Stems densely 
tufted, slender, angular, erect, striated, 3-12 in. long, leafless 
except a short basal sheath. Spikelets oblong, obtuse, i-i in. 
long ; flowers 50 or more. Glumes much imbricated, in. long, very 
obtuse, with a brown keel and .scariose sides. Bristles 4-8, brown. 
Style bifid. Achene obovoid, smooth, glossy, castaneous, as long as 
the glume. Scirpus cariboeus, Rottb. Descr. 46, t. 15, Jiff. 3. 
A plant of Mauritius, according to Kunth, but I have not seen specimens. Spread 
through the tropics of both hemispheres. 
2. E. chcetaria, Rcem. and Schult . ; Kunth , Enum. ii. 140. Stems 
3-6 in. long, very slender, densely tufted, with a leafless sheath at 
the base. Spikelets in. iong, ovate or oblong, subacute, 
8-12 -flowered. Glumes oblong, in. long, scariose, obtuse or the 
upper subacute, with a green keel and brown scariose sides and a 
