first enclosed in the sheathing spathe-like base of a leaf, entirely
destitute of floral envelopes, consisting of 2 sessile stamens, each
with 2 large and separate anther-cells, and 4 small sessile ovaries,
with solitary campylotropous suspended ovules; stigma sessile,
depressed. Fruit small obliquely ovate pointed drupes, each raised on a
slender stalk which appears after flowering; the spadix itself also then
raised on an elongated thread-form peduncle. Embryo ovoid, with a short
and pointed plumule from the upper end, by the side of the short
cotyledon.--Marine herbs, growing under water, with long and thread-like
forking stems, and slender almost capillary alternate leaves, sheathing
at the base. Flowers rising to the surface at the time of expansion.
(Dedicated to _H. B. Ruppius_, a German botanical author of the early
part of the 18th century.)
1. R. maritima, L. Leaves linear-capillary; nut ovate, obliquely erect,
11/2'' long; fruiting peduncles capillary (3--6' long); stipes 1--12''
long.--Shallow bays, along the entire coast; also occasionally in saline
places in the interior. (Eu., Asia, etc.)
5. ZANNICHELLIA, Micheli. HORNED PONDWEED.
Flowers monoecious, sessile, naked, usually both kinds from the same
axil; the sterile consisting of a single stamen, with a slender filament
bearing a 2--4-celled anther; the fertile of 2--5 (usually 4) sessile
pistils in the same cup-shaped involucre, forming obliquely oblong
nutlets in fruit, beaked with a short style, which is tipped by an
obliquely disk-shaped or somewhat 2-lobed stigma. Seed orthotropous,
suspended, straight. Cotyledon taper, bent and coiled.--Slender
branching herbs, growing under water, with mostly opposite long and
linear thread-form entire leaves, and sheathing membranous stipules.
(Named in honor of _Zannichelli_, a Venetian botanist.)
1. Z. palustris, L. Style at least half as long as the fruit, which is
flattish, somewhat incurved, even, or occasionally more or less toothed
on the back (not wing-margined in our plant), nearly sessile; or, in
var. PEDUNCULATA, both the cluster and the separate fruits evidently
peduncled.--Ponds and slow streams, throughout N. America, but not
common. July. (Eu., Asia.)
6. ZOSTERA, L. GRASS-WRACK. EEL-GRASS.
Flowers monoecious; the two kinds naked and sessile and alternately
arranged in two rows on the midrib of one side of a linear leaf-like
spadix, which is hidden in a long and sheath-like base of a leaf
(spathe); the sterile flowers consisting of single ovate or oval
1-celled sessile anthers, as large as the ovaries, and containing a tuft
of threads in place of ordinary pollen; the fertile of single
ovate-oblong ovaries attached near their apex, tapering upward into an
awl-shaped style, and containing a pendulous orthotropous ovule; stigmas
2, long and bristle-form, deciduous. Utricle bursting irregularly,
enclosing an oblong longitudinally ribbed seed (or nutlet). Embryo short
and thick (proper cotyledon almost obsolete), with an open chink or
cleft its whole length, from which protrudes a doubly curved slender
plumule.--Grass-like marine herbs, growing wholly under water, from a
jointed creeping stem or rootstock, sheathed by the bases of the very
long and linear, obtuse, entire, grass-like, ribbon-shaped leaves
(whence the name, from [Greek: zoste/r], _a band_).
1. Z. marina, L. Leaves obscurely 3--5-nerved.--Common in shoal water of
bays along the coast, from Newf. to Fla. (Eu.)
7. NAIAS, L. NAIAD.
Flowers dioecious or monoecious, axillary, solitary and sessile; the
sterile consisting of a single stamen enclosed in a little membranous
spathe; anther at first nearly sessile, the filament at length
elongated. Fertile flowers consisting of a single ovary tapering into a
short style; stigmas 2--4, awl-shaped; ovule erect, anatropous. Fruit a
little seed-like nutlet, enclosed in a loose and separable membranous
epicarp. Embryo straight, the radicular end downward.--Slender branching
herbs, growing under water, with opposite and linear leaves, somewhat
crowded into whorls, spinulose-toothed, sessile and dilated at base.
Flowers very small, solitary, but often clustered with the branch-leaves
in the axils; in summer. ([Greek: Naia/s], _a water-nymph_.)
1. N. marina, L. _Stem rather stout and often armed with broad prickles;
leaves broadly linear_ (3--18'' long), _coarsely and sharply toothed_,
the dilated base entire; fruit 2--21/2'' long; _seed very finely lineate,
oblong_, slightly compressed. (N. major, _All._)--Marshes and
salt-springs of western N. Y. and Mich. Teeth of one or more brownish
cells upon a many-celled base. (Eu.)
Var. gracilis, Morong. Internodes long (1--3') and nearly naked, with
only a few teeth above; leaves very narrow, the dilated base also
toothed; fruit smaller.--Canoga marshes, western N. Y.; also in Fla.
Var. recurvata, Dudley. Stems short, inclined to be dichotomously
branched, recurved-spreading; leaves usually recurved, the teeth
prominent, the dilated base with a projecting tooth each side.--Cayuga
marshes, N. Y.
2. N. flexilis, Rostk. & Schmidt. _Stems usually very slender; leaves
very narrowly linear_ (1/2--1' long), _very minutely serrulate_; fruit
11/2'' long, narrowly oblong; _seeds lance-oval, smooth and
shining_.--Ponds and slow streams, N. Scotia to S. C., Iowa and Minn.
Teeth on the margins of the leaves 1-celled. (Eu.)--Var. ROBUSTA,
Morong. Stem stout, few-leaved, sparsely branching, elongated; leaves
flat, abruptly acute.--E. Mass., Mich., and Tex.
3. N. Indica, Cham., var. gracillima, A. Br. Branches alternate;
_leaves_ very narrowly linear, _nearly capillary_, straight, _serrate,
the rounded lobes of the sheathing base spinulose-ciliate; fruit linear,
impressed-dotted between the numerous ribs_.--Mass. to Penn., west to
Ind. and Mo. Teeth of 3 cells each.
ORDER 127. ERIOCAULEAE. (PIPEWORT FAMILY.)
_Aquatic or marsh herbs, stemless or short-stemmed, with a tuft of
fibrous roots, a cluster of linear and often loosely cellular grass-like
leaves, and naked scapes sheathed at the base, bearing dense heads of
monoecious or rarely dioecious small 2--3-merous flowers, each in the
axil of a scarious bract; the perianth double or rarely simple, chaffy;
anthers introrse_; the fruit a _2--3-celled 2--3-seeded capsule_; seeds
pendulous, orthotropous; embryo at the apex of mealy albumen.--Chiefly
tropical plants, a few in northern temperate regions.
1. Eriocaulon. Perianth double, the inner (corolla) tubular-funnel-form
in the staminate flowers; stamens twice as many as its lobes (4).
Anthers 2-celled.
2. Paepalanthus. Perianth as in the last; stamens only as many as the
corolla-lobes (3). Anthers 2-celled.
3. Lachnocaulon. Perianth simple, of 3 sepals. Stamens 3, monadelphous
below. Anthers 1-celled.
1. ERIOCAULON, L. PIPEWORT.
Flowers monoecious and androgynous, i.e. both kinds in the same head,
either intermixed, or the central ones sterile and the exterior fertile,
rarely dioecious. _Ster. Fl._ Calyx of 2 or 3 keeled or boat-shaped
sepals, usually spatulate or dilated upward. Corolla tubular,
2--3-lobed, each of the lobes bearing a black gland or spot. Stamens
twice as many, one inserted at the base of each lobe and one in each
sinus; anthers 2-celled. Pistils rudimentary. _Fert. Fl._ Calyx as in
the sterile flowers, often remote from the rest of the flower (therefore
perhaps to be viewed as a pair of bractlets). Corolla of 2 or 3 separate
narrow petals. Stamens none. Ovary often stalked, 2--3-lobed,
2--3-celled; style 1; stigmas 2 or 3, slender. Capsule membranaceous,
loculicidal.--Leaves mostly smooth, loosely cellular and pellucid, flat
or concave above. Scapes or peduncles terminated by a single head,
involucrate by some outer empty bracts. Flowers, also the tips of the
bracts, etc., usually white-bearded or woolly. (Name compounded of
[Greek: e)/rion], _wool_, and [Greek: kaulo/s], _a stalk_, from the wool
at the base of the scape.)--Our species are all stemless, wholly
glabrous excepting at the base and the flowers, with a depressed head
and dimerous flowers.
1. E. decangulare, L. _Leaves obtuse_, varying from linear-lanceolate to
linear-awl-shaped, rather rigid; scapes 10--12-ribbed (1--3 deg. high); head
hemispherical, becoming globular (2--7'' wide); scales of the involucre
acutish, straw-color or light brown; _chaff_ (bracts among the flowers)
_pointed_.--Pine-barren swamps, N. J. to Fla. July--Sept.
2. E. gnaphalodes, Michx. _Leaves spreading_ (2--5' long),
_grassy-awl-shaped_, rigid, or when submersed thin and pellucid,
tapering gradually to a _sharp point_, mostly shorter than the sheath of
the _10-ribbed scape_; scales of the involucre very obtuse, turning
lead-color; _chaff obtuse_.--Pine-barren swamps, N. J. to Fla.
3. E. septangulare, Withering. _Leaves short_ (1--3' long), _awl-shaped,
pellucid_, soft and very cellular; _scape 4--7-striate_, slender, 2--6'
high, or when submersed becoming 1--6 deg. long, according to the depth of
the water; _chaff acutish_; head 2--3'' broad; the bracts, chaff, etc.,
lead-color, except the white coarse beard.--In ponds or along their
borders, Newf. to N. J., west to Ind., Mich., and Minn. July, Aug. (Eu.)
2. PAEPALANTHUS, Martius.
Stamens as many as the (often involute) lobes of the funnel-form corolla
of the sterile flowers, and opposite them, commonly 3, and the flower
ternary throughout. Otherwise nearly as in Eriocaulon. (Name from
[Greek: paipa/le], _dust_ or _flour_, and [Greek: a)/nthos], _flower_,
from the meal-like down or scurf of the heads and flowers of many South
American species.)
1. P. flavidulus, Kunth. Tufted, stemless; leaves bristle-awl-shaped (1'
long); scapes very slender, simple, minutely pubescent (6--12' high),
5-angled; bracts of the involucre oblong, pale straw-color, those among
the flowers mostly obsolete; perianth glabrous; sepals and petals of the
fertile flowers linear-lanceolate, scarious-white.--Low pine-barrens, S.
Va. to Fla.
3. LACHNOCAULON, Kunth. HAIRY PIPEWORT.
Flowers monoecious, etc., as in Eriocaulon. Calyx of 3 sepals. Corolla
none! _Ster. Fl._ Stamens 3; filaments below coalescent into a
club-shaped tube around the rudiment of a pistil, above separate and
elongated; anthers 1-celled! _Fert. Fl._ Ovary 3-celled, surrounded by
3 tufts of hairs (in place of a corolla). Stigmas 3, two-cleft.--Leaves
linear-sword-shaped, tufted. Scape slender, bearing a single head,
2--3-angled, hairy. (Name from [Greek: la/chnos], _wool_, and [Greek:
kaulo/s], _stalk_.)
1. L. Michauxii, Kunth.--Low pine-barrens, Va. to Fla.
ORDER 128. CYPERACEAE. (SEDGE FAMILY.)
_Grass-like or rush-like herbs, with fibrous roots, mostly solid stems_
(culms), _closed sheaths, and spiked chiefly 3-androus flowers, one in
the axil of each of the glume-like imbricated bracts _(scales, glumes)_,
destitute of any perianth, or with hypogynous bristles or scales in its
place; the 1-celled ovary with a single erect anatropous ovule, in fruit
forming an achene._ Style 2-cleft with the fruit flattened or
lenticular; or 3-cleft and fruit 3-angular. Embryo minute at the base of
the somewhat floury albumen. Stem-leaves when present 3-ranked.--A
large, widely diffused family.
I. Flowers all perfect, rarely some of them with stamens or pistal
abortive; spikes all of one sort.
Tribe I. SCIRPEAE. Spikelets mostly many-flowered, with only 1 (rarely 2)
of the lower scales empty.
[*] Scales of the spikelet strictly 2-ranked, conduplicate and keeled.
[+] Flowers destitute of bristles and of beak to the achene,
inflorescence terminal.
1. Cyperus. Spikelets few--many-flowered, usually elongated or slender.
2. Kyllinga. Spikelets 1-flowered (but of 3 or 4 scales), glomerate in a
sessile head.
[+][+] Flower furnished with bristles; achene beaked; inflorescence
axillary.
3. Dulichium. Spikelets 6--10-flowered, slender, clustered on an
axillary peduncle.
[*][*] Scales of the several--many-flowered spikelet imbricated all
round (subdistichous in n. 5).
[+] Achene crowned with the bulbous persistent base of the style
(usually deciduous in n. 7); flowers without inner scales (bractlets).
[++] Hypogynous bristles (perianth) generally present; culm naked.
4. Eleocharis. Spikelets solitary, terminating the culm. Stamens 3.
[++][++] Bristles always none; culm leafy.
5. Dichromena. Spikelets crowded into a leafy-involucrate head,
laterally flattened, the scales more or less conduplicate and keeled.
Many of the flowers imperfect or abortive.
6. Psilocarya. Spikelets in broad open cymes. Style almost wholly
persistent.
7. Fimbristylis. Spikelets in an involucrate umbel. Culm leafy at base.
Style usually wholly deciduous.
[+][+] Style not bulbous at base.
[++] Flowers without inner scales, but bristles generally present.
8. Scirpus. Spikelets solitary or clustered, or in a compound umbel, the
stem often leafy at base and inflorescence involucrate. Barbed bristles
3--8 or none. Stamens mostly 3.
9. Eriophorum. As Scirpus, but the bristles naked, exserted and often
silky in fruit. Stamens 1--3.
[++][++] 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 destitute of tubercle. No bristles.
II. Flowers unisexual.
Tribe III. SCLERIEAE. Flowers monoecious; the staminate and pistillate in
the same or in different clustered 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 monoecious in the same (androgynous) or in
separate spikes or sometimes dioecious. 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
clusters 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. ([Greek: Ky/peiros], the
ancient name.)
Sec. 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, clustered on
the 2--4 very short rays (peduncles); _scales obtuse, straw-yellow;
stamens 3; achene shining, 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 clustered 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 (1/2--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 Mass. 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 deg. 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.
Sec. 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 (11/2--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 clustered, or short-peduncled); _scales nerved, tapering to a long
recurved point_; achene oblong-obovate, obtuse. (C. inflexus,
_Muhl._)--Sandy wet shores; common. Sweet-scented in drying.
7. C. acuminatus, 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.
and southwestward.
[+][+] _Tall perennial (1--4 deg. high); heads many, greenish; scales
pointless._
8. C. calcaratus, Nees. Culm obtusely triangular; leaves and involucre
very long, keeled; umbel compound, many-rayed; spikelets ovate (11/2''
long), in numerous small heads; achenes pale, linear, on a slender
stipe; scales narrow, acutish, obscurely 3-nerved. (C. virens, _Gray_,
in part; not _Michx._ C. Luzulae, var. umbellatus, _Britt._)--Wet
places, Del. to Fla. and Tex.
[*][*] _Stamens 3 (2 in _C. fuscus_); spikelets clustered on the rays of
a simple umbel (or in a single sessile head); scales mostly green or
greenish and many-nerved, abruptly sharp-pointed; achene obovate,
sharply triangular._
[+] _Low annuals._
9. C. Compressus, L. Culms 3--9' high, with a simple sessile or a few
umbellate clusters of oblong to linear spikelets (15--30-flowered and
3--8'' long) with crowded strongly keeled and very acute pale
scales.--Sterile fields along the coast, Md. to Fla. and Tex.; also
adventive near Philadelphia.
C. FUSCUS, L. Of similar habit; spikelets much smaller (2--4'' long),
the thin brown scales (greenish only on the keel) barely acutish and
very faintly nerved.--Revere Beach, Mass. (_Young_); on ballast at
Philadelphia. (Adv. from Eu.)
[+][+] _Perennial, propagating from hard clustered corms or bulb-like
tubers._
10. C. Schweinitzii, Torr. _Culm rough on the angles (1--2 deg. high)_;
umbel 4--8-rayed, rays very unequal, erect; _spikelets loosely or
somewhat remotely 6--12-flowered, with convex many-nerved scales_;
joints narrowly winged.--Dry sandy shores and ridges, western N. Y. and
Penn. to Minn. and Kan.
11. C. filiculmis, Vahl. Culm slender, wiry, often reclined (8--15'
high); _leaves linear_ (1/2--2'' wide) or filiform; _spikelets numerous
and clustered in one sessile dense head, or in 1--7 additional looser
heads on spreading rays_ of an irregular umbel; _joints of the axis
naked; scales blunt_, greenish.--Dry sterile soil; common, especially
southward.
12. C. Grayii, Torr. Culm thread-form, wiry (6--12' high); _leaves
almost bristle-shaped_, channelled; _umbel simple, 4--6-rayed; spikes
5--10 in a loose head, spreading; joints of the axis winged; scales
rather obtuse_, greenish-chestnut-color.--Barren sands, Plymouth, Mass.,
to N. J., near the coast.
Sec. 3. PAPYRUS. _Style 3-cleft; achene triangular; stamens 3; spikelets
many-flowered, flattened, the carinate scales decurrent upon the rhachis
as scarious wings; spikes in simple or compound umbels._
[*] _Wings of the rhachis soon separating to the base as a pair of free
scales; annual._
13. C. erythrorhizos, Muhl. (Pl. 1, fig. 5--8.) Culm obtusely triangular
(3'--3 deg. high); umbel many-rayed; involucre 4--5-leaved, very long;
involucels bristle-form; spikelets very numerous, crowded in oblong or
cylindrical nearly sessile heads or spikes, spreading horizontally,
linear, flattish (3--6'' long), bright chestnut-colored; scales
lanceolate, mucronulate.--Alluvial banks, L. I. to Penn., Mich., Minn.,
and southward; also adventive in N. Eng.
[*][*] _Wings of the rhachis persistently attached; perennial by slender
running rootstocks._
[+] _Achene round-obovate; scales mucronate or acute, free or
spreading._
14. C. Haspan, L. Culms sharply angled (1--11/2 deg. high); leaves linear,
often reduced to membranous sheaths; _umbel spreading, the filiform rays
mostly longer than the 2-leaved involucre_; spikelets narrowly linear;
scales light reddish-brown, oblong, _mucronate, 3-nerved_.--Ponds and
ditches, Va. to Fla. and Tex.
15. C. dentatus, Torr. (Pl. 1, fig. 9.) Culms slender (1 deg. high); leaves
rigid and keeled; _umbel erect, shorter than the 3--4-leaved involucre_;
scales reddish-brown, _with green keel_, ovate, _acute,
7-nerved_.--Sandy swamps, N. Eng. and northern N. Y. to S. C. and W.
Va. Spikes often abortive and changed into leafy tufts.
[+][+] _Achene linear to oblong; scales appressed, pointless or nearly
so._
[++] _Perennial by tuberiferous stolons._
16. C. rotundus, L. (NUT-GRASS.) Culm slender (1/2--11/2 deg. high), longer than
the leaves; umbel simple or slightly compound, about equalling the
involucre; the few rays each bearing 4--9 _dark chestnut-purple_
12--40-flowered _acute spikelets_ (4--9'' long); _scales ovate, closely
appressed, nerveless_ except on the keel.--Sandy fields, Va. to Fla. and
Tex.; also adventive near Philadelphia and New York city. (Eu.)
17. C. esculentus, L. Culm (1--21/2 deg. high) equalling the leaves; umbel
often compound, 4--7-rayed, much shorter than the long involucre;
_spikelets numerous, light chestnut or straw-color, acutish_,
12--30-flowered (4--7'' long); _scales ovate or ovate-oblong narrowly
scarious-margined, nerved_, the acutish _tips rather loose_; achene
oblong-obovate. (C. phymatodes, _Muhl._)--Low grounds, along rivers,
etc., N. Brunswick to Fla., west to Minn, and Tex.; spreading
extensively by its small nut-like tubers and becoming a pest in
cultivated grounds.
[++][++] _Perennial, propagating by corm-like tubers from the base;
spikelets narrow, acuminate, often teretish; scales oblong-lanceolate;
achene linear-oblong._
18. C. strigosus, L. Culm mostly stout (1--3 deg. high); most of the rays of
the umbel elongated (1--5'), their sheaths 2-bristled; _spikelets
5--25-flowered_, spreading; scales several-nerved, much longer than the
achene.--Damp or fertile soil, Canada to Fla., west to Minn., Tex., and
the Pacific. Very variable in the number and length of the rays of the
simple or compound umbel, and in the size of the spikelets (21/2--6 or
even 12'' long), more or less densely crowded on the axis.