Eriocaulon.] 
CLX. ERIOCAULACE^. 
133 
Order CLX. ERIOCAULACEi^:. 
Herbs (shrubs and trees in South America) with fibrous roots. 
Stem usually very short. Leaves grassy herbaceous or stiff, 
crowded at the base in our species. Flowers minute, unisexual, in 
a head on a slender scape, white. Bracts forming an involucre 
at the base. Male flowers, sepals 2 or 3, free on connate. Petals 
2 or 3, rarely o in a tube. Stamens 6 or fewer, usually black, 
anthers 2-celled. Female flowers in the same head, pedicelled or 
not. Sepals 2 or 3, narrow. Petals 3, usually ciliate. Stigmas 
2 or 3, slender. Ovary 3- (rarely 2-)celled; ovules solitary in the 
cell. Capsule trilobed. Seeds very minute papillose. Species 
600 to 700, chiefly South American, 
1 . ERIOCAULON, Linn. 
Description as above. All other genera are South American. 
This genus, the largest, occurs all over the world in temperate 
and tropical regions. 
Scapes I ft. tall. 
Heads columnar ovate; leaves thin grassy . (r) E. sexangulare 
Heads semi-globose, -26 in. through; scape tall; 
leaves rather stiff . . . . . {2) E. silicicolum 
Heads sub globose, '3 in. wide; scape 4 In. tall; 
leaves short rigid . . . . . (3) E. Hookerianum 
Dwarf plants, scapes very slender, 2 to 3 in. tall; 
leaves shorter, r in. long, thin; heads -12 in, 
through. 
Involucral bracts ovate or oblong short. 
Flowers hairy . . . . . . (4) E. truncatum 
Flowers glabrous . . . . . (5) E. glabriflorum 
Involucral bracts acute, longer than the heads . (6) E. xeranthemum 
Involucral bracts spathulate w’ith a few minute 
teeth.(7) E- disepalum 
(i) E. sexangulare Linn. Sp. PL 87 ; Hook. fil. F.B.I. vi. 580 ; 
Ridl. Mat. iii. 54. E. Wallichianum Mart, in Wall. PL /I5. Rar. 26, 
t. 249. 
Leaves long linear obtuse, dark green, 3 to 13 in. long, *12 to 
•25 in. wide, herbaceous. Scapes numerous, terete, 12 to 18 in. 
long. Heads globose or columnar, hard, white, *25 in. long. 
Receptacle conic. Involucral bracts ovate obtuse. Floral bracts 
spathulate. Male flowers, sepals usually connate, boat-shaped. 
Petals tipped with hairs. Female flowers pedicelled or sessile. 
Sepals boat-shaped. Petals filiform. Capsule flat, broad-winged. 
Seeds elliptic, ribbed papillose. Hah. Very common in open damp 
spots, ditches, old rice-fields, etc. Singapore, Tanglin; Reservoir. 
Johor, Tana Merah. Malacca (Griffith); Bukit Sabukor (Derry) ; 
Ayer Panas. Sungei Ujong, Bukit Sulu (Cantley). Pahang, 
Pekan. Penang Hill. Setul. Kelantan, Chaning (Ridley). Dis- 
