BOGS, MARSHES, WET PLACES— SUMMER 



255 



spikelets, three to twelve in number, form a terminal cluster, the 

 inner ones sessile, or nearly so, and the outer stalked and more or 

 less drooping. They are at first oval or oblong, about half an inch 

 long ; but in fruit, 

 usually in the month 

 of June, they form 

 dense cottony tufts 

 from one to two 

 inches in length. 



The other is the 

 Hare's-tail or Sheath- 

 ing Cotton Grass {E. 

 vaginatum) — a tufted 

 species, common on 

 boggy moors, with 

 many stems which 

 are round below 

 and triangular above, 

 at first about six or 

 eight inches high, 

 but lengthening as 

 the flowering ad- 

 vances. At the top 

 of each stem is a 

 solitary oval sj^ikelet, 

 of a dark brownish- 

 green colour, over 

 half an inch long, 

 with many straight 

 bristles that eventu- 

 ally form a dense, 

 globular, cottony 

 tuft about an inch 

 in diameter. This is 

 an earlier species, 

 flowering during 

 April and May. 



The large genus Carex contains many common sedges with 

 grass -like leaves springing from the base or the lower part of the 

 stem. Some of them have a sohtary spikelet ; others have several 

 spikelets in a terminal cluster or spike, with, sometimes, stalked 



The Marsh Sedge. 



