31. Scirpus Cyperinus (L.) Kunth. Wool-Grass

Fig. 831

Eriophorum cyperinum L. Sp. PI. Ed. 2, 77. 1762. Scirpus cyperinus Kunth, Enum. 2: 170. 1837. S. Eriophorum Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 1: 33. 1803. S". pedicellatus Fernald, Rhodora 2: 16. 1900.

Perennial by stout rootstocks; culms stout or slender, smooth, obtusely triangular or nearly terete, stiff, leafy, 2°-6° tall. Leaves elongated, 2"-3' wide, rough-margined, the upper often overtopping the culm, those of the involucre 3-6, their bases often brown or black, the longer much exceeding the terminal, compound umbel; spikelets ovoid-oblong, obtuse, 1 1/2" - 5" long, in capitate clusters of 3-15 at the ends of the raylets, or some or all of them stalked; scales ovate or lanceolate, acute or subacute; bristles 6, entangled, smooth, much longer than the achene, much exserted beyond the scales and brown or reddish at maturity; stamens 3; style 3-cleft; achene 3-angled, oblong, slender-beaked, nearly white.

In swamps, Newfoundland to Ontario, Saskatchewan, Florida and Louisiana. Clump-head grass. Aug.-Sept. Consists of many races with spikelets stalked or sessile.

Scirpus atrocinctus Fernald, characterized by black bases of the involucral leaves, is of northern range and may be specifically distinct.

Scirpus Longii Fernald, recently published as a distinct species of the New Jersey pine-barrens, appears to be the same as S". atrocinctus.