SCIRPUS ACICULARIS. LEAST CLUB-RUSH.
SCIRPUS acicularis; culmo compresso, canaliculato, basi vagina mutica; spica solitaria, ovata, acuta,
terminal!; nuce setis nullis.
SCIRPUS acicularis. Linn. Sp. PI. p .7 1. liuds. Angl. p. 18. With. Bot. Arr. cd. 4. vol. 2. p. 74.
CEd. Fl. Dan. t. 287. Roth Germ. vol. 2. p. 55. L ig h tf. Scot. p. 88. Willd. Sp. PI.
vol. 1. p. 295. Smith Fl. B r it. p. 51. Engl. Bot. t. 749- Schrad. Fl. Germ. p. 130.
Poiret in Ency'cl. Method, vol. 6. p. 752. Decand. Fl. Fr. ed. 3. vol. 3. p. 138. Fl. Gall.
Syn. p. 146. Pers. Syn. Pl. vol. 1. p. 66. Host Gram. Austr. vol. 3. t. 60. Alton
Hort. KeW. ed. 2. p. 131. Wahl. Fl. Lapp. p. 15.
SCIRPUS minimus, capitulis equiseti. R aii Syn. p. 429*
MARISCUS foliis setaceis mollibus, spica nuda pauciflora. Hall. Helv. n. 1346.
JU N C E L LU S minimus capitulis equiseti. Pluk. P h y t. t. 40. f . 7.
Class a n d Order. T R IA N D R IA M O NOGYNIA.
[N atural Order. CYPERACEiE, Decand. Brown. CY PERO ID E rii, Juss. PALMARI.ZE, Linn.]
Gen. Char. Cal. gluuue univalves, uniflorae, in spicam vel spiculas undique imbricate: exteriorum una alterave
seepe sterili.. Corolla nulla. Afor.unilocularis, nuda vel setis e receptaculo ortis obvallata.—Schrad.
Radix annua (?), repens, Abris tenuissimis fuscis den-
sissime instructis.
Culmi .plures, sæpissime steriles, graciles, molles, digitales
ùsque ad spithamæos, erecd, compressi,
hinc canaliculati, glabri, ad basin vaginis brevi-
bus, aphyllis,. obtusis, scariosis, fuscis vestiti.
Spica parva, terminalis, solitaria, ovato-acuminata, sub-
quinqueflora.
Glümæ ovatæ, exteriores latiores, obtusiores, interiores
acuminatæ, omnes fertiles, fusco-rufescentes,
margine pallidiore, dorso virides.
Stam in a: Filamenta tria ; Antheræ oblongæ, flavæ.
Ovarium minutuin, oblongo-ovatum.
Stylus brevis, basi insigniter incrassatus; Stigmata tria,
filiformia.
Capsula : Nux ovato-triquetra, longitudinaliter punc-
tato-striata, ad apicem basi persistente, dilatata
s tyli term inata.
Semen unicum, obovatum, pallide fuscum, glabrum.
Root annual (?), creeping, thickly beset with slender
brown fibres.
Culms many, often sterile, slender, flaccid, from a
Anger’s length even to a span in height, erect,
compressed, channelled on ■ one side, smooth,
clothed at the base with short, leafless, obtuse,
scariose, brown sheaths.
Spike small, terminal, solitary, ovato-acuminate, with
about five flowers.
Glumes ovale, .the exterior ones the widest, and most
obtuse, the interior ones acuminate, all of them
fertile, reddish brown, the margin paler, the back
green.
Stamens: Filaments three; Anthers oblong, yellow.
Ovary small, oblongo-ovate?
Style short, remarkably thickened a t the base; Stigmas
three, Aliform. .
Capsule : An ovato-triquetrous nut, longitudinally
striated with dots, terminated at the extremity
by the dilated, persistent base of the style.
Seed single, obovate, pale brown, smooth.
Mg. 1. Portion o f a leaf, magn. Fig. 2. Spike of flowers. Fig. 3. Flower removed from the spike. Fig. 4. Cap-
. sule with the remains of the stamens at the base. Fig. 5. Seed.—All more or less magn.
This is not a very uncommon inhabitant o f wet places, especially by the sides of pools and ditches, and in a
gravelly or heathy soil which is occasionally inundated,' though its diminutive size may have caused it to be frequently
overlooked. I t flowers from June to August. The specimen here figured was communicated by Mr. Borrer
from Sussex.
As a species the present plant differs in its extremely slender habit, in the grooved and flaccid culms, and the sharp
head, from its British affinities, the Scirpi with leafless culms and solitary terminal spikes, which Mr. Brown has
made, with many exotic species having a similar habit, into the genus Eleocharis, essentially characterized by the
“ Stylus, basi dilatata cum ovario articulata,” and the fruit “ basi dilatata indurata, styli coronata.” This swelling
of the base of the style will be seen to be remarkably the case with the plant before u s ; so it is also with Scirpus
palustris; but in Scirpus pauciflorus the incrassation of the base of the style is scarcely perceptible, and not a t all
in Scirpus caspitosus (all of which Mr. Brown considers as belonging to his genus Eleocharis) ; whence we have
been led to differ from our learned friend, and again to unite his Eleocharis with the old genus Scirpus.
The culms of Scirpus acicularis have by most modern authors been considered tetragonous. Wahlenberg says
they are striated; but I, on the other hand, have always found them to be compressed, convex on one side, and
channelled on the other.
Sturm says that the flowers of this plant have sete at the base o f the seed; and Schrader says, “ Sete plerumque
null®.” Notwithstanding that I. have examined a great number of flowers, I have never been able to detect any
appearance of sete, and can only suppose that these authors may have mistaken the remains o f the anthers for sete,
the absence of which in this species forms the essential difference between it and Scirpus pauciflorus.