SCIRPUS CARINATUS. BLUNT-EDGED CLUBRUSH.
SCIRPUS carinatus; culmo basi terete, superne trigono, vaginis aphyllis, cyma terminali decomposita
involucro diphyllo suffulta, spiculis oblongis, stigmatibus duobus.
SCIRPUS carinatus. Smith Engl. Bot. t. 1983.
SCIRPUS lacustris y . Smith FI. B r it. p. 52.
JUM.CUS aquaticus médius, caule carinato. Dill, in Raii Syn. fid. Sm.
Class and Order. T R IA N D R IA MONOGYNIA.
[N atural Order. CYPERACEiE, Juss. Decand. Br.~\
Gen . Char. Glumes univalves, uniflorte, in spicam v. spiculas undique imbricate: exteriorum una alterave
stepe sterili. N u x nuda v. setis e receptaculo ortis obvallata. Schrad,
Gen. Char. Glumes one-valved, one-flowered, imbricated on all sides into a spike or- spikelets: one or other of
the exterior ones often sterile. N u t naked, or surrounded by bristles arising from the receptacle. Schrad.
Radix non raro digiti crassitie, longe repens, flexuosa,
vaginarum reliquiis quasi articulata, demum sub-
lignosa, fibris numerosis, albidis, hispidis in-
structa,
CuLMl bi- vel tripedales, erecti, e basi exacte terete ad
apicem omnino trigono vel etiam triquetro sensim
decrescentes, virides, glabri, intus medulla Spongiosa
farcti, inferne vaginantes. Vaginas duas
vel tres, fuscte, membranaceas, vix striatas, apice
acuminatas, omnino aphyllas ; interiores multo
longiores, spithamasas et ultra.
Involucrum universale diphyllum, foliolis valde in-
aequalibus, uno vix unciam longo, lanceolato-su-
bulato, viridi-fusco, submembranaceo, altero tri-
vel quadriunciali, acuminato, viridi, rigido, intus
basi canaliculate; partiale foliolis vel bracteis
ovatis, acutis, membranaceis, fuscis.
Cyma terminalis, decomposita; ramis inasqualibus com-
pressis glabris.
SPlCULiE congestas, ovatae, ferrugineo-rutilantes.
Glum® obovatas, concavas, membranaceas, margine
scariosae, albas, fimbriatas, nervo centrali valido
ultra apicem in acumen breve producto.
Stamina tria, gluma longiora. Antheras lineares, flavas.
Germen ovatum, basi setis sex, linearibus, hispidis.
Stigmata duo, filiformia, subpubescentia.
Root often the thickness of a finger, much creeping,
flexuose, as it were jointed with the remains of
the sheaths, at length somewhat woody, beset
with numerous whitish hispid fibres.
Culms two 'or three feet high, erect, gradually tapering
from the base, which is exactly round, to the
extremity, when it is trigonous or even of three
acute angles, green, smooth, within filled with a
spongy pith, below sheathing. Sheaths two or
three, brown, membranaceous, scarcely striated,
at the apex acuminated, altogether leafless; the
interior much longer, a span long and more.
General involucrum of two leaves, with the leaflets
very unequal, one scarcely an inch, long, lan-
ceolato-subulate, greenish-brown, somewhat membranaceous,
the other three or four inches long,
acuminate, green, rigid, within channelled at the
base; the partial Involucrum consisting of ovate,
acute, brown, membranaceous leaflets or bracteas.
Cyme terminal, decomposited, with the branches unequal,
compressed, smooth.
Spikelets clustered, ovate, reddish rust colour.
Glumes obovate, concave, membranaceous, scariose at
the margin and white, fringed, having a strong
central nerve produced beyond the apex into a
short nerve.
Stamens three, longer than the glume. Anthers linear,
yellow.
Germen ovate, having six linear hispid bristles at the
base. Stigmas two, filiform, subpubescent.
Fig. 1. Spikelet. Fig. 2. Inner view of a glume with the anthers, germen, and set«. Fig. 3. Exterior view of
a glume— all magnified.
This plant appears to be quite unknown on the continent. I t is the var. y . of Sciipus lacustris of Sir J . E.
Smith in Flora Britannica ; but that author appears very properly, and at the suggestion of Mr. E. Forster, to
have raised it in English Botany to the rank of a species. I t differs from S. lacustris in having the upper part of
the stem bluntly triangular, in the want of leaf-like terminations to the sheaths, and in ‘the style of the flower having
but two stigmas:—not, as Sir J . E. Smith says, in the presence of the long pungent involucrum or bractea;
for that equally exists in the S. palustris. I t may be known from the S. triquetcr, with which it accords in the
circumstance of its having two stigmas, by the leafless stalks, and by their being perfectly cylindrical at the base.
I t may be questioned how far what is here and by most authors considered as the larger leaflet of the involucrum,
and by others as the larger bractea, whence the fructification becomes terminal, should really be looked upon
as such. To me this leaflet seems rather to be a continuation of the stalk, and as such the same part is deemed
in the Scirpus triqucter.
In Dillenius’s time this plant was found about Battersea, and from thence the specimen figured in English
Botany appears to have been obtained. Mr. Forster detected it on the shores o f the Thames above Westminster-
bridge ; and Mr. Borrer kindly communicated the individual plant here represented from the banks of the Arun,
near Arundel-castle, Sussex, in the beginning of July last.