The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Part 184

-- 1. RHYNCHOSPORA proper. _Spikelets terete or biconvex, few--many-flowered; style conspicuously 2-cleft, its base only forming the tubercle of the mostly lenticular achene; bristles usually present, merely rough or barbed-denticulate (not plumose)._

[*] _Achene transversely wrinkled; bristles mostly 6, upwardly denticulate._

1. R. cymsa, Nutt. _Culm triangular; leaves linear_ (' wide); cymes corymbose, the _spikelets crowded and cl.u.s.tered; achene round-obovate_, twice the length of the bristles, four times the length of the depressed-conical tubercle.--Low grounds, Penn. and N. J. to Fla., west to N. Ind. and Ill.

2. R. Torreyana, Gray. (Pl. 4, figs. 1--5.) _Culm nearly terete, slender; leaves bristle-form_; cymes panicled, somewhat loose, the _spikelets mostly pedicelled; achene oblong-obovate_, longer than the bristles, thrice the length of the broad compressed-conical tubercle.--Swamps; pine-barrens of N. J. to S. C.

3. R. inexpansa, Vahl. _Culm triangular_, slender; _leaves narrowly linear; spikelets spindle-shaped, mostly pedicelled, in drooping panicles; achene oblong_, half the length of the slender bristles, twice the length of the triangular-subulate tubercle.--Low grounds, Va. to Ga.

[*][*] _Achene smooth and even._

[+] _Bristles 6, long and conspicuous, upwardly denticulate._

4. R. fusca, Roem. & Schultes. Culm 6--12' high; _leaves bristle-form channelled_; spikelets ovate-oblong, few, cl.u.s.tered in 1--3 loose heads (dark chestnut-color); _achene obovate, half the length of the bristles_, equalling the triangular-sword-shaped acute tubercle, which is rough serrulate on the margins.--Low grounds, N. Brunswick to N. J., west to L. Superior. (Eu.)

5. R. gracilenta, Gray. Culms very slender, 1--2 high; _leaves narrowly linear_; spikelets ovoid, in 2--4 small cl.u.s.ters, the lateral long-peduncled; _achene ovoid, rather shorter than the bristles_, about the length of the flat awl-shaped tubercle.--Low grounds, southern N. Y.

and N. J. to Fla.

6. R. oligantha, Gray. Culm and leaves filiform, 6--12' high; spikelets very few (1--4), ovate-oblong; bristles plumose below the middle; achene obovate-oblong, bearing a conical tubercle {1/3} its length.--Del.

(_Canby_) to Fla.

[+][+] _Bristles none, or 1--3 and minute; spikelets pale, 1-flowered._

7. R. pallida, M. A. Curtis. Culm (1--2 high) acutely triangular; leaves and spikelets as in the next species, but only a terminal dense cl.u.s.ter, which is less white or turns pale reddish-tawny; achene obovate-lenticular, tipped with a minute depressed and apiculate tubercle; the delicate bristles 4--5 times shorter or obsolete.--Bogs in pine-barrens of N. J. and N. C.

[+][+][+] _Bristles long, denticulate downward, or both ways in n. 11._

[++] _Spikelets white or whitish, becoming tawny with age, perfecting only a single flower; stamens usually 2; bristles 9--12, or even 20._

8. R. alba, Vahl. Culm slender (1--2 high), triangular above; leaves narrowly linear or almost bristle-form; spikelets lanceolate, densely crowded in a head-like terminal corymb and usually one or two lateral ones; achene oblong-obovate with a narrowed base, scarcely longer than the flattened-awl-shaped tubercle, shorter than the bristles.--Bogs, Newf. to Fla., west to N. Ind., Minn., and Oregon. (Eu.)

[++][++] _Spikelets chestnut-colored or darker in_ n. _10 and 11, few--several-flowered; stamens 3; bristles usually 6._

9. R. capillacea, Torr. Culm 6--9' high, slender; _leaves bristle-form; spikelets 3--6 in a terminal cl.u.s.ter_, and commonly 1 or 2 on a remote axillary peduncle, _oblong-lanceolate_ (pale chestnut-color, 3" long); _achene oblong-ovoid_, stipitate, very obscurely wrinkled, about _half the length of the_ (6, rarely 12) _stout bristles_, and twice the length of the lanceolate-beaked tubercle.--Bogs and rocky river-banks, N. Vt.

to Penn., west to western N. Y. and Minn.--Var. LEVISeTA, Hill.

Bristles perfectly smooth. N. W. Ind.

10. R. Knieskernii, Carey. Culm 6--18 high, slender; _leaves narrowly linear_, short; _spikelets numerous, crowded in 4--6 distant cl.u.s.ters, oblong-ovate_ (scarcely 1" long); _achene obovate_, narrowed at base, _equalling the bristles_, twice the length of the triangular flattened tubercle.--Pine-barrens of N. J. (on bog iron ore exclusively) to Va.; rare.

11. R. glomerata, Vahl. Culm 1--3 high; _leaves linear, flat; spikelets numerous in distant cl.u.s.ters or heads_ (often in pairs from the same sheath), _ovoid-oblong_; achene obovate, margined, narrowed at base, as long as the lance-awl-shaped flattened tubercle, which equals the always _downwardly barbed bristles_.--Low grounds, N. Eng. to Fla., west to Mich. and N. Ind.

12. R. cephalantha, Gray. Culm stout (2--3 high); _leaves narrowly linear, flat, keeled; spikelets very numerous, crowded in 2 or 3 or more dense globular_ heads which are distant (and often in pairs), _oblong-lanceolate_, dark brown; achene orbicular-obovate, margined, narrowed at base, about as long as the awl-shaped beak; _bristles_ twice longer, stout, _barbed downward and sometimes also upward_.--Sandy swamps, Long Island to N. J. and Fla.

-- 2. CERATOSCH'NUS. _Spikelets lanceolate, ac.u.minate, in fruit flattish, cymose-panicled, of only one perfect and 1--4 staminate flowers; scales few; bristles rigid, minutely scabrous upward; style simple or barely 2-toothed, filiform and gradually thickened downward, in fruit persistent as an exserted, slender-awl-shaped, upwardly roughened beak, several times longer than the smooth flat obovate achene; coa.r.s.e perennials; spikelets in flower 4", in fruit including the projecting beak about 1' long._

13. R. corniculata, Gray. (HORNED RUSH.) Culm 3--6 high; leaves about 6" wide; _cymes decompound, diffuse; bristles awl-shaped_, stout, unequal, _shorter than the achene._--Wet places, Penn. to Fla., west to S. Ind. and Mo.

14. R. macrostachya, Torr. (Pl. 4, fig. 1--4.) _Cymes_ decompound, or in the northern form _somewhat simple_ and smaller, and the spikelets usually more cl.u.s.tered; _bristles capillary, twice the length of the achene_.--Borders of ponds, Ma.s.s. to N. J. and Fla.; rare.

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.