Part 184 (2/2)

14. CLaDIUM, P. Browne. TWIG-RUSH. (Pl. 5.)

Spikelets ovoid or oblong, of several loosely imbricated scales; the lower empty, one or two above bearing a staminate or imperfect flower; the terminal flower perfect and fertile. Perianth none. Stamens 2. Style 2--3-cleft, deciduous. Achene ovoid or globular, somewhat corky at the summit, or pointed, without any tubercle, in which it differs from Rhynchospora. (Diminutive of ???d??, _a branch_, from the repeatedly branched cyme of the original species.)

1. C. mariscodes, Torr. Perennial; culm obscurely triangular (1--2 high); leaves narrow, channelled, scarcely rough-margined; cymes small; the spikelets cl.u.s.tered in heads 3--8 together on 2--4 peduncles; style 3-cleft.--Bogs, N. Scotia to Del., west to S. Minn. and Iowa. July.

15. SCLeRIA, Berg. NUT-RUSH. (Pl. 5.)

Flowers moncious; the fertile spikelets 1-flowered, usually intermixed with cl.u.s.ters of few-flowered staminate spikelets. Scales loosely imbricated, the lower empty. Stamens 1--3. Style 3-cleft. Achene globular, stony, bony, or enamel-like in texture. Bristles, etc., none.

Perennials, with triangular leafy culms, mostly from creeping rootstocks; flowering in summer; all in low ground or swamps.

Inflorescence, in our species, of terminal and axillary cl.u.s.ters, the lower cl.u.s.ters usually peduncled. (Name, s?????a, _hardness_, from the indurated fruit.)

[*] _Achene smooth._

1. S. triglomerata, Michx. _Culm_ (1--3 high) _and broadly linear leaves roughish_; fascicles of spikelets few, the lowest peduncled, the upper _somewhat in threes; achene ovate-globose_ or depressed, on an obscure crustaceous disk.--Ma.s.s. and Vt. to Fla., west to Minn. and Tex.--Var. GRaCILIS, Britton. Culms slender (1--2 long); fascicles few-flowered, the lower (2--3-flowered) on very long filiform peduncles; achene not more than half as large, acutish.--N. J.

2. S. oligantha, Ell. Culms slender, 2 high, the angles somewhat winged; _leaves linear_ (2” wide), _smooth_ except the scabrous apex; lateral fascicles 1 or 2, usually on long exserted peduncles; _achene ovate, on a tuberculate disk_.--Va. to Fla. and Tex.

[*][*] _Achene papillose or warty._

3. S. pauciflra, Muhl. Smoothish or hairy; culm slender (9--24' high); leaves narrowly linear; fascicles few-flowered, the lateral pedunculate, sessile, or wanting; bracts ciliate; achene globose-ovate; the disk a narrow ring bearing 3 pairs of minute tubercles.--N. H. to Ohio, south to Fla. and Tex.

[*][*][*] _Achene reticulated or wrinkled._

4. S. reticularis, Michx. (Pl. 5, fig. 6--10.) Culms slender, _erect_, scabrous (1--2 high); leaves linear (1--1” wide), smooth; lateral fascicles 1--3, loose, remote, nearly erect, _on short often included peduncles_; bracts glabrous; achene globose, _regularly reticulated and pitted_, not hairy, resting upon a double greenish conspicuously 3-lobed disk, the inner appressed to and deciduous with the achene.--E. Ma.s.s. to Fla.--Var. p.u.b.eSCENS, Britton. Edges of reticulations more or less hairy, especially toward the apex; lateral fascicles generally on longer peduncles. Pine-barrens of N. J. to Fla.--Var. OBSCuRA, Britton. Achene bony, its surface with very obscure reticulations, nearly smooth at the summit. R. I. and N. C.

5. S. Torreyana, Walpers. Culms weak, _diffuse_, slightly scabrous or smooth; leaves linear (2--4” wide), smooth; lateral fascicles loose, on _more or less elongated and drooping filiform peduncles_; achene _irregularly pitted-reticulated or pitted-rugose with the ridges somewhat spirally arranged and more or less hairy_ (sometimes smooth); otherwise as in the last. (S. laxa, _Torr._)--Pine-barrens, N. J. to Fla. and Tex.

6. S. verticillata, Muhl. Smooth; culms simple, slender (4--24' high); leaves narrowly linear, _fascicles_ 3--9-flowered, 4--6, _sessile in an interrupted spikelet; achene_ globose (” broad), somewhat triangular at base, _rough-wrinkled with short elevated ridges; disk obsolete_.--E.

Ma.s.s. to Ont., Minn., and south to the Gulf.

16. CaREX, Ruppius. SEDGE. (By L. H. BAILEY.)

Flowers unis.e.xual, dest.i.tute of floral envelopes, disposed in spikes; the staminate consisting of three stamens, in the axil of a bract, or _scale_; the pistillate comprising a single pistil with a bifid or trifid style, forming in fruit a hard lenticular or triangular achene, which is enclosed in a sac (_perigynium_) formed by the complete union of the borders of a bractlet or of connate bractlets and borne in the axil of a bract, or _scale_. Staminate and pistillate flowers borne in different parts of the spike (spike _androgynous_), or in separate spikes on the same culm, or rarely the plant dicious.--Perennial gra.s.s-like herbs with mostly triangular culms, 3-ranked leaves, usually with rough margins and keel, and spikes in the axils of leafy or scale-like bracts, often aggregated into heads. An exceedingly critical genus, the study of which should be attempted only with complete and fully mature specimens. (The cla.s.sical Latin name, of obscure signification; derived by some from ?e???, _to cut_, on account of the sharp leaves--as the English name _Shear-gra.s.s_.) (Pl. 5 and 6.)

Synopsis of Sections and Groups.

-- 1. CAREX proper. Staminate flowers forming one or more terminal linear or club-shaped spikes (often pistillate at base or apex). Pistillate flowers usually in distinct and simple mostly peduncled spikes.

Cross-section of perigynium circular, obtusely angled, or prominently triangular in outline. Style mostly 3-parted and achene triangular or triquetrous.

[*] 1. Physocarpae. Perigynium mostly straw-colored at maturity, papery in texture, usually more or less inflated, smooth (sometimes hairy in n. 6), nerved, tapering into a beak as long as or longer than the body; spikes few to many, distinct, compactly flowered; stigmas 3 (2 in n. 10).

[+] 1. _Pauciflorae._ Perigynium greenish, linear-lanceolate or almost needle shaped, not inflated, strongly deflexed at maturity, several times longer than the inconspicuous scale; spike androgynous, the pistillate flowers at base, few.--Sp. 1.

[+] 2. _Lupulinae._ Perigynium green or greenish tawny or sometimes yellow, more or less inflated (except in n. 2--4) long, usually very turgid at base, mostly erect or nearly so, very gradually attenuate to a long slenderly toothed beak exceeding the scale; spikes 3 or more, the staminate mostly 1 and stalked, the pistillate often sessile, usually short and thick, often becoming dark colored in drying.--Sp. 2--8.

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