SEDGE TRIBE 39 
6. SPIKE-RUSH (Hledcharis). 
1. Creeping Spike-rush (£. paliistris).—Stigmas 2; fruit crowned 
with the flattened base of the style, shorter than the 4 to 6 bristles. A 
rush-like plant, 2—3 feet high, destitute of leaves, and sending up from its 
widely-creeping rootstock many tufts of rounded stems, abruptly sheathed 
at the base, each of which terminates in a solitary oblong, red-brown spikelet. 
The dark glumes have a green keel and a pale edge, whilst the lowest one is 
almost round, and half clasps the base of the spikelet. Sides of lakes and 
ponds, common, flowering in June. There is a sub-species, EZ. wniglumis, with 
brown glumes, whose pale margins are narrower, and the lowest glume oval, 
almost entirely clasping the base of the spikelet. This is not so common as 
the typical form. 
2. Many-stalked Spike-rush (Z. multicailis). —Stigmas 3; fruit 
crowned with the triangular base of the style, longer than the 5—6 bristles. 
Resembling the last, but smaller. The leaf-sheaths appear as though cut 
short obliquely ; the glumes are less pointed and the margins narrower. The 
author has found specimens the spikelets of which are viviparous, and bear 
plants furnished with roots and embryo spikelets. Flowering at the same 
time, and in similar situations, with the last. 
3. Least Spike-rush (ZL. aciculdris).—Stigmas 3; fruit crowned with 
the almost globose base of the style ; bristles 1—3 ; stems numerous, tufted, 
round, exceedingly slender. A humble plant, 3—4 inches high, frequent 
among other marsh plants on the sides of lakes and in damp heathy places ; 
rare in Scotland. It approaches in habit Isdlepis sdévii and I. setdcea, from 
which, however, it may be at once distinguished by the absence of bracts. 
It flowers from June to August. 
7. Mup-rus (Jsdlepis). 
1. Floating Mud-rush (J. jfliitans).—Spikelet solitary, terminal ; 
stigmas 2; stem floating, flattened, branched. A tufted grass-like aquatic, 
with numerous zigzag stems 3—18 inches long, short sheathing leaves an 
inch or two long, and small ovate pale green spikelets, flowering from June 
to August. Common in lakes, ponds, and marshes. 
2. Bristle-stalked Mud-rush (J. setdcea).—Spikelets 1—3, with an 
erect bract at the base, which greatly overtops the spikes; stigmas 3; fruit 
longitudinally ribbed and transversely striated. A humble plant, 3—6 inches 
high, forming dense clumps of very slender stems, which are leafy at the 
base. Common in wet gravelly places, and flowering in July and August. 
3. Savi’s Mud-rush (J. sdvii).—Spikelets 1—3, with 1 or 2 spreading 
bracts, of which the longer slightly overtops the spikes ; stigmas 3 ; fruit 
dotted, not furrowed. Closely resembling the last, from which, however, it 
may well be distinguished by the above characters, by its larger size, and 
by its brighter green hue. It is common in the west of England, where it 
inhabits bogs, and is found also in Scotland and Ireland, generally near the 
sea. Of late years it has been commonly exposed for sale in Covent Garden 
Market. Planted in a pot, and set to stand in a saucer of water, it soon 
fills the pot with innumerable evergreen bristling stems, which spread in all 
