Part 180 (1/2)

[++][++] Flower with one or more inner scales.

10. Fuirena. Scales of the spikelet awned below the apex. Flower surrounded by 3 stalked petal-like scales alternating with 3 bristles.

11. Hemicarpha. Flower with a single very minute hyaline scale next the axis of the spikelet; bristles none.

12. Lipocarpha. Flower enclosed by 2 inner scales, one next the axis, the other in front of the achene; bristles none.

Tribe II. RHYNCHOSPOREae. Spikelets mostly 1--2-flowered, with 2--many of the lower scales empty.

13. Rhynchospora. Spikelets terete or flattish; scales convex, either loosely enwrapping or regularly imbricated. Achene crowned with a persistent tubercle or beak, and commonly surrounded by bristles.

14. Cladium. Spikelets terete, few-flowered, the scales, etc., as in the preceding. Achene dest.i.tute of tubercle. No bristles.

II. Flowers unis.e.xual.

Tribe III. SCLERIEae. Flowers moncious; the staminate and pistillate in the same or in different cl.u.s.tered spikes. Achene naked, bony or crustaceous, supported on a hardened disk.

15. Sclerlia. Spikes few-flowered; lower scales empty. No bristles or inner scales.

Tribe IV. CARICEae. Flowers moncious in the same (androgynous) or in separate spikes or sometimes dicious. Achene enclosed in a sac (_perigynium_).

16. Carex. Hypogynous bristle short and enclosed in the perigynium or none.

1. CYPeRUS, Tourn. GALINGALE. (Pl. 1.)

Spikelets many--few-flowered, mostly flat, variously arranged, mostly in cl.u.s.ters or heads, which are commonly disposed in a simple or compound terminal umbel. Scales 2-ranked, conduplicate and keeled (their decurrent base below often forming margins or wings to the hollow of the joint of the axis next below), deciduous when old. Stamens 1--3. No bristles or inner scales. Style 2--3-cleft, deciduous. Achene lenticular or triangular, naked at the apex.--Culms mostly triangular, simple, leafy at base, and with one or more leaves at the summit, forming an involucre to the umbel or head. Peduncles or rays unequal, sheathed at base. All flowering in late summer or autumn. (??pe????, the ancient name.)

-- 1. PYCReUS. _Achene lenticular, the edge turned to the rhachis; spikelet flattened, many flowered; rhachis narrow, not winged. Annuals._

[*] _Umbel simple or capitate, rarely slightly compound._

1. C. flavescens, L. Culms 4--10' high, spikelets 5--8” long; involucre 3-leaved, very unequal; spikelets becoming linear, obtuse, cl.u.s.tered on the 2--4 very short rays (peduncles); _scales obtuse, straw-yellow; stamens 3; achene s.h.i.+ning, orbicular_, its superficial cells oblong.--Low grounds, N. Eng. to Mich., Ill., and southward. (Eu., etc.)

2. C. diandrus, Torr. (Pl. 1, fig. 1--4.) Spikelets lance-oblong (3--9”), scattered or cl.u.s.tered on the 2--5 very short or unequal rays; _scales rather obtuse, purple-brown_ on the margins or nearly all over; _stamens 2, or sometimes 3; achene dull, oblong-obovate_; otherwise much like the last.--Low grounds, common from the Atlantic to Minn., Ark., and N. Mex.--Var. CASTaNEUS, Torr. Scales more firm and browner; with the type.

3. C. Nuttallii, Torr. Culms 4--12' high; spikelets lance-linear, acute and very flat (--1' long), crowded on the few usually very short (or some of them distinct) rays; _scales oblong, yellowish-brown_, rather loose; _stamens 2; achene oblong-obovate, very blunt, dull_.--Mostly in salt or brackish marshes, along the coast from Ma.s.s. to the Gulf.

4. C. polystachyus, Rottb., var. leptostachyus, Boeckl. Culms very slender, 6--15' high; leaves and elongated involucre very narrow; spikelets few to many on the 4--8 rays, linear, acute, 2--9” long; _scales thin, ovate, acute, closely imbricated, pale brown_; stamens 2; _achene linear-oblong or clavate, short-pointed, grayish and minutely pitted_. (C. microdontus, _Torr._)--Margins of ponds and streams, Va. to Fla. and Tex.

[*][*] _Umbel compound._

5. C. flavicomus, Vahl. Culm stout (1--3 high); leaves of the involucre 3--5, very long; spikelets linear (4--9” long), spiked and crowded on the whole length of the branches of the several-rayed umbel, spreading; _scales oval, very obtuse, yellowish and brownish, broadly scarious- (whitish-) margined; stamens 3; achene obovate, mucronate_, blackish.--Low grounds, Va. to Fla.

-- 2. CYPERUS proper. _Achene triangular; spikelets usually many-flowered, more or less flattened, with carinate scales, the rhachis marginless or nearly so (winged in n. 12)._

[*] _Stamen 1; spikelets short and small (1--5” long) in globular heads, ovate or linear-oblong, many-flowered; achene oblong-obovate to linear._

[+] _Low annuals; involucre 2--3-leaved; heads few; scales pointed._

6. C. aristatus, Rottb. Dwarf (1--5' high); _spikelets chestnut-brown, oblong becoming linear_, 7--13-flowered, in 1--5 ovate heads (sessile and cl.u.s.tered, or short-peduncled); _scales nerved, tapering to a long recurved point_; achene oblong-obovate, obtuse. (C. inflexus, _Muhl._)--Sandy wet sh.o.r.es; common. Sweet-scented in drying.

7. C. ac.u.minatus, Torr. Slender (3--12' high); _spikelets ovate, becoming oblong_, 16--30-flowered, _pale; scales obscurely 3-nerved, short-tipped_; achene oblong, pointed at both ends.--Low ground, Ill.