SCIRPUS LACUSTRIS. BULL-RUSH.
SCIRPUS lacusiris; culmo tereti, vaginis interioribus in folium breve desinentibus, cyma terminall
decomposita involucro diphyllo sufFulta. Sehr ad.
SCIRPUS lacustris. Linn. Sp. PI. p. 72. Hud s.An g l.p . 19- L ig h t/. Scot. p. 88. With. B ot. A r r .
ed. 4. ml. Q.p. 74. Hoffm. Gei'm. ed. 2. ml. 1. P . I- p- 23. Willd. Sp. PI. ml. 1. p. 296.
Smith FI. B r it. p. 52. Engl. Bot. t. 666. Decand. Fl. Fr. ed. 3. ml. 3. p. 136. FI. Gall.
Syn. p . 146. Schrad. FI. Germ. p. 133. Gaudin Agrost. l ie h . ml. 2. p . 24. Host Gram.
Austr. ml. 3. p. 61. Pers. Syn. P I. ml. 1. p . 67. Aiton Hort. Keto. ed. 2. ml. 1. p. 131.
Brown Prodr. FI. Nov. Holl. p. 223.
SCIRPUS caule tereti, panicula laterali ramosa, locustis ovatis. Hall. Helv. n. 1337.
SCIRPUS palustris altissimus. Bull-rush. R ail Syn. p. 428.
Dan. S if. Peek. Dut. Mattenbies. Fr. L e Scirpe des étangs. Germ. Die Seebinse. Kalmuc. Ma-
goi Segeson. Russ. Sitnik. Span. Junco de laguna. Swed. Sjosàf. Welsh. Tost-frwynen.
Class a n d Order. T R IA N D R IA MONOGYNIA.
[N atural Order. CYPERACEÆ, Juss. Decand. Brown.]
Gen. Ch a r . Calyx, glumes univalves, unifloras, in spicara vel spiculas undique imbricates: exteriorum una alte-
rave saepe sterili. N u x nuda, vel setis e receptaculo ortis obvallata.
Gen. Char. Calyx, glumes of one valve, one flower, imbricated on all sides into a spike or spikelets: one or
other of the exterior ones often sterile. N u t naked, or covered by bristles arising from the receptacle.
Radix crassa, carnosa, repens, vaginarum emarcida-
rum reliquiis vestita, fibrasque numerosas emit-
tens.
Culmi bi- tri-pedales ad octo-pedales et ultra, erecti,
glabri, e basi ad apicem exacte teretes, sensimque
decrescentes, sordide virides, intus medulla valde
Spongiosa farcti, superne nudi, inferne vaginati.
Vaginas quatuor vel quinque, pallide fuscae, non
raro atro-purpureas, membränaceas, vix striatæ,
inferiores àphyllæ, superiores in folium lineari-
subulatum, canaliculatum, tri- quadri-unciale, ri-
gidum desinentes.
Involucrum universale diphyllum, foliolis valde in-
æqualibus, subulatis,uno, breviori, membranaceo,
fusco, altero bi- tri-unciam longo, canaliculate,
rigido, erecto, viridi ; partiale e foliolis vel brac-
teis ovatisj acutis, membranaceis, fuscis, ad basin
cujusque pedupculi sitis.
Cyma terminalis, decomposita, involucro longior. Pe-
dunculi valde inasquales, nunc bi- tri-unciales,
compressi, marginibus scabri.
Spiculæ plerumque congestas, ovatæ, fusco-ferrugineæ.
GlüMÆ late-ovatas, concavæ, membranaceæ, apice plerumque
bifidæ, margine fimbriatas, nervo ultra
apicem in mucronem scabrum rigidum producto
instruct®.
Stamina tria, gluma longiora. Antheræ flavas.
GeRMEN ovatum. Stigmata duo vel tria.
P e r ïGa r pium : Nux late obovata, pallide fusca,
nitida, apice mucronata; ad basin setas sex, nucis
longitudine, lineari-subulatæ, retrorsum hispidas.
Root thick, fleshy, creeping, clothed with the decayed
remains of the sheaths, and throwing out numerous
fibres.
Culms two or three to eight feet or more in height,
erect, smooth, from the base to the apex exactly
round, gradually decreasing in size, dull green,
within filled with a very spongy pith; above
naked, below sheathed. Sheaths four or five,
pale brown, not unfrequently blackish purple,
membranaceous, scarcely striated, the lower ones
leafless, the upper ones ending in a linear-subulate,
channelled, rigid leaf, three or four inches
in length.
General Involucrum of two leaves, the leaflets very
unequal, subulate, one of them, the shorter, membranaceous,
brown, the other two or three inches
long, channelled, rigid, erect, green; the partial
one composed o f ovate, acute, membranaceous,
brown leaflets or bracteas situated at the base of
each peduncle.
Cyme terminal, very compound, longer than the involucrum.
Peduncles very unequal, sometimes
two or three inches long, compressed, rough at
the margin.
Spikelets generally clustered, ovate, brownish ferrugi.
Glumes broadly ovate, concave, membranaceous, generally
bifid at the extremity, the margin fringed,
furnished with a nerve which runs out beyond
the apex into a rough rigid mucro.
Stamens three,- longer than the glume. Anthers yellow.
Germen ovate. Stigmas two or three.
Pericarp: a broadly obovate Nut, pale brown, shining,
mucronate at the extremity; at the base are
six bristles, the length of the nut, linear-subulate,
with reflexed bristles.
Fig. 1. Scale of the spikelet, exterior surface. Fig. 2. Inner view o f a scale, with the anther, germen, and setæ.
Fig. 3. P e r’ 'arp with its setæ—all magnified.
There is a degree of elasticity and pliability about the stems or culms of this plant that renders them of great
utility for a number of purposes in domestic (Economy. In our country, mats and bottoms of chairs are made of
them ; and they are employed to a great extent in filling up the seams between the staves of casks and barrels.
In Sweden, Linnæus tells us that houses are thatched with them, packsaddles stuffed, and in times of scarcity, that
they are given, in lieu of better food, to cattle. The Tartars, also, according to Gmelin, make a kind of mattress
of these rushes, to lie upon during the oppressive heats o f summer.
The Bull-rush occurs frequently enough aboutthe margin of lakes, rivers and ponds, and in ditches. I t seems
to be an inhabitant of various and widely distant parts of the world, being found in Iceland, where, unlike most
vegetables, it does not betoken by a stunted growth the uncongeniality of the climate, but attains a considerable
height ; in Lapland, in North America, and, according to Mr. Brown, even in New Holland.
As a species, it is readily known from every other by its great size, the roundness of the stem from the base to
the summit, and its large cyme, or panicle o f spikelets, which rises above the involucres.
I am, at present, unacquainted with the Scirpus glaucus of English Botany*, otherwise than by the figure and
description there given. From them, indeed, it does not appeal' to be very clearly distinguished from our present
plant. “ I t differs,” says the author, “ in being much smaller, (not above two feet in height,) of a glaucous hue,
with a less compound panicle, which does not rise above the upper bracteaf- The spikelets, moreover, are
crowded, ovate, darker in colour, the glumes broader, and, as Dr. Stokes well observes in Withering, dotted with
purple on their lower part.” This is the Scirpus lacustris (2. of the FI. B rit, and probably the S. lacustris (3.
médius of Schrader, of which he says, “ culmi humiliores et spiculæ brevius pedunculatæ :” but such individuals
are found frequently intermixed with the more common kinds. The latter author has a third variety, which he
describes as o f a glaucous colour with the spikelets few and sessile.
^ * Not of Lamarck, who has published a Scirpus glaucus, a native of Senegal in Africa, allied to S. maritimus, in his IIIlistrationes
f It is represented rather higher, in the figure, vid. Engl. Bot. t. 2321.
97 '