iii.l CYPERACEM. 335 



A large Family, represented in every quarter of the globe 

 by numerous species, generally abounding in wet places. 

 The sedges resemble grasses in habit, but may be distin- 

 guished by their usually solid and angular stem, the closed 

 (not split) sheaths of their leaves, and the flowers each 

 borne in the axil of a single bract {glume), without the 

 additional pale of grasses. 



Fig. 2i8. Female flower of Carex. Fig. 219. Vertical section of fruit of same. 



In the largest genus of the Family Carex, and in Sderia, 

 of both of which genera there are numerous Indian species, 

 the flowers are unisexual. In the latter genus the nut is 

 often white, shining, and very hard and bony. 



In the Type-species the flowers are arranged in distichous 

 spikelets, but in most of the Indian genera they are in the 

 axils of glumes which are regularly imbricated all round the 

 spikelets. 



In several genera, as Scirpus, Fuirena, and Rhynchospora, 

 a perianth is represented by from three to six hypogynous 

 bristles or scales. 



The rhizomes or small tubers of a few species of the 

 Family are used in native medicine, and the stems and 

 leaves of others (as Cyperus distans) are employed to make 

 coarse matting and cordage. The famous Papyrus, used as 



