2. Scleria Triglomerata Michx. Tall Nut-Rush. Whip-Grass

Fig. 860

Scleria triglomerata Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 2: 168. 1803. Scleria triglomerata var. gracilis Britton, Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 3: 230. 1885. Not S. gracilis Ell. 1824.

Rootstocks hard, stout, clustered; culms 3-angled, slender or rather stout, erect or ascending, rough or nearly smooth on the angles, 1 1/2°-3° tall. Leaves flat, smooth or slightly rough-margined, glabrous or nearly so, 1 1/2"-2 1/2" wide, the lower short, acute, the upper tapering to a long tip, rarely exceeding the culm; flower-clusters terminal, and usually also 1 or 2 smaller ones from the axils; bracts glabrous or slightly ciliate; achene ovoid or ovoid-globose, obtuse but somewhat pointed, bony, obscurely 3-angled, smooth, bright white, shining, 3/4"- 1 1/2" high, supported on a low obtusely triangular, papillose-crustaceous hypogynium.

In meadows and thickets, Vermont to Ontario and Wisconsin, south to Florida, Arkansas and Texas. July-Sept.

3. Scleria Reticularis Michx. Reticulated Nut-Rush

Fig. 861

Scleria reticularis Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 2: 167. 1803. Scleria reticularis obscura Britton, Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 3: 232. 1885.

Rootstocks small; culms very slender, erect, 3-angled, 1°-2 1/2° tall. Leaves narrowly linear, smooth, glabrous or nearly so, 1"-1/2' wide, not overtopping the culm; spikelets in a terminal cluster and 1-3 remote short-stalked axillary rather loose ones; bracts glabrous; achene globose, crustaceous, dull white when mature, reticulated by longitudinal and transverse ridges, 1/2" in diameter, glabrous, the reticulations sometimes very obscure; hypogynium 3-lobed, its lobes appressed to the base of the achene.

In moist meadows, eastern Massachusetts to Florida and in northern Indiana. July-Sept.

4. Scleria Setacea Poir. Torrey's Nut-Rush

Fig. 862

S". setacea Poir. in Lam. Encycl. 7: 4. 1806.

Scleria Torreyana Walp. Ann. 3: 696. 1852-53.

Scleria laxa Torr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. 3: 376. 1836. Not. R.

Br. 1810. Scleria reticularis pubescens Britton, Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci.

3: 232. 1885.

Culms weak but rather thick, spreading or diffuse, 3-angled, nearly or quite smooth, 1°-2 1/2° long. Leaves linear, nearly flat, smooth, glabrous, 1 1/2"-4" wide, not exceeding the culm; spikelets in a loose terminal cluster, and 1-3 filiform-stalked smaller axillary ones; bracts glabrous; achene globose, somewhat pointed, nearly 1" in diameter, irregularly rugose with low ridges sometimes spirally arranged or reticulated, pubescent; hypo-gynium 3-lobed, the lobes appressed to the base of the achene.

In moist soil, Connecticut ( ?); Long Island to Florida, Indiana, Missouri, Texas and Mexico. Also in Cuba and Porto Rico. June-Aug.