AMONG THE WILD FLOWERS. 
XII 
THe resemblance which, to a casual observer, 
many of the species of Carex, Sedge, bear to 
grasses, suggests that this genus and the Nat. 
Ord. CypeRAcE#, to which they belong, should 
now be spoken of. 
In some points the Carzces have the same 
kind of structure as a grass. The roots of 
both are fibrous, the stems slender and straw- 
like, and the leaves long and narrow; but in- 
stead of the round, hollow, and jointed stem of 
the grass, the Carex has its stem usually tri- 
angular and solid, and seldom divided; it is 
also hard and coarse, and sharp at the edges, 
instead of being, like grass, soft and succulent. 
These are not necessarily characteristics of 
other genera of the Cyperacez ; but it is so 
with nearly all the 70 species of Carex. 
105 
