10 JUNCACEAX—RUSH TRIBE 
3. Boc-AspHODEL (Narthécium). 
Lancashire Bog-Asphodel (JN. ossifragum).—Leaves sword-shaped, 
rigid, ribbed and pointed ; stamens much shorter than the perianth ; filaments 
white and woolly ; rootstock creeping, wiry, and perennial. This elegant 
little flower is a favourite with the botanist who fears not to tread the moist 
grassy bog, where it overtops the sundew and bog-pimpernel. It is not 
infrequent on wet places and moors, especially in mountainous districts ; 
ascending to over 3,000 feet in the Highlands. The leaves grow mostly 
from the root in tufts, and are grass-like, about half the height of the stem, 
of a pale green colour, and marked with prominent ribs. The slender 
stem is about six or seven inches high, with a leaf here and there, and is 
often bending and rooting at the base. The star-like flowers are bright 
yellow, greenish at the back, the anthers deep orange, and the filaments 
covered with thick wool. They grow in a tapering spike, one bract being at 
the base, and another just above the middle of each partial flower-stalk. An 
old prejudice was entertained in various Continental countries, and still exists 
among the Swedish peasantry, that this plant is injurious to sheep, rendering 
their bones so brittle as to be easily broken ; hence its name, ossifraguwm, bone- 
breaking, which has its synonym in many lands. The French call it Brise-os ; 
the Germans, Beinbrechgras ; and the Dutch, Beenbreekend. Linneeus, in his 
“Flora Lapponica,” refuted the notion of its injurious properties ; and it is 
indeed usually left untouched by sheep, though readily eaten by cows and 
horses. It has much similarity to the genus Anthericum, in which Linnzus 
placed it, though it is separated by modern botanists. Gerarde, who called 
it the Lancashire Asphodell, says of it: “It growes in manie rotten moorish 
grounds in this kingdome, and is used in Lancashire by women to die their 
haire of a yellowish colour, and therefore is by them termed Maiden-hair. 
It groweth neere unto the towne of Lancaster, as also neere unto Maudsley 
and Martom, not far from thence, where it was found by a learned and 
worshipful gentleman,—a diligent searcher of simples, and a fervent lover 
of plants,—Mr. Thomas Hesket, who brought the plants thereof into use for 
the encrease of my garden.” 
Order XCII. BUTOMACEA®—_FLOWERING RUSH TRIBE. 
Perianth segments 6, all coloured; stamens 9; ovaries superior, 6, or 
more, distinct, or united into a mass ; follicles beaked, many-seeded, splitting 
open when ripe. This is a small tribe of aquatic plants, with handsome 
umbellate flowers and sword-shaped leaves, sometimes included in the order 
Alismacez. 
Flowering Rush (Biitomus).—Stamens 9 ; carpels 6. Name from the 
Greek bous, an ox, and temno, to cut, because cattle cut their mouths with the 
leaves. 
FLOWERING Rusu (Bilomus). 
Flowering Rush (B. wmbelldtus).— Leaves erect, narrow, acute, 
triangular, sheathing at the base, all from the roots; flower-stalk round, 
