GLUMACEZ 217 
a spikelet, which consists of imbricate solitary bracts, 
the lower empty, enclosing glumes at right angles. 
The nodes have no diaphragms. The flower is in 
the axil of the glume, hermaphrodite or unisexual, 
naked, or with a perianth of six or more small scales 
or hairs. There are three stamens with three carpels, 
or two, with a single-chambered ovary. Thestigmas 
are long and feathery, and the plant is (like the grass) 
pollinated by the wind. The single ovule is basal. 
The female flower in Carex is borne in a utricle. 
The fruit is an achene, and the testa does not adhere 
to the pericarp. 
CoTTon Grass (Eriophorum angustifolium). 
The Cotton Grass is always found in certain spots 
where the ground is boggy and there is a plentiful 
supply of moisture. . 
But though such tracts are now few and far between 
owing to drainage and tree-felling (though this last 
only affects it indirectly), Cotton Grass is found in 
most counties in the British Isles. In the Highlands 
it is found at the high altitude of 3500 ft. 
The chief habitat of this and other Cotton Grasses 
is boggy ground, especially upland bogs fed by water 
from the numerous springs that issue from the 
outcrop. But these bog species are found not only 
at high elevations but also in the lowlands. Tosome 
extent they are associated also with marsh plants. 
The Cotton Grass has the grass habit. The stems 
are single, terete, smooth, with two joints sheathed 
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