28o SOUTH AFRICAN FLOWERING PLANTS, 



DIVISION ]I.— GLUMACE.E. 



Cyperaceae. 



The Matjesgoed and Nut-grass Family. 



This is a very large order containing 2200 species 

 of 61 genera in 6 tribes. South Africa has 30 genera. 

 These are the true " Sedges," many beiog characteristic 

 of wet places as well as growing in water. They have 

 leaves with an entire sheath, not " split," as in BcsHio 

 and Grasses. 



The flowers are in spikelets, 

 composed of scale-like, dry, or 

 scarious bracts, called glumes, from 

 the Latin ghima, meaning " chaff,' 

 as they are commonly known in 

 wheat. Each glume has a solitary 

 flower in its axil. As a rule, there 

 is no perianth, but it may be repre- 

 sented by bristles or hairs, or it 

 may be entirely wanting. Within 

 the glume are usually three stamens, and the pistil is 

 composed of three carpels indicated by the three 

 stigmas ; but there is only one ovary-cell, which forms 

 a single-seeded achene. 



Cype'rus. — The spikelets have their glumes arranged 

 in two ranks. Each flower consists solely of three 

 stamens and a pistil (Fig. 109). 



Fig. 109. — Cype'rus. 



