AMONG THE WILD FLOWERS. III 
round the fruit, and which, in Z. Polystachzon, 
are long, pendulous, and silky; in 4. Vagzna- 
tum the bristles are upright, and so like a 
hare’s tail as to have obtained for the plant the 
name of Hare’s-Tail Cotton Grass. 
The plants of this Nat. Order seem to have 
little utility beyond the conservation, by their 
creeping and binding roots, of the soil where 
they grow. Possibly the seeds, which are 
numerous, may be serviceable food for living 
things in the water as well as on land. Cer- 
tainly many of the plants are very ornamental. 
The celebrated Papyrus of the Nile, P. axzz- 
guorum, probably the plant called Bulrush in 
our English Bible, is one of this Order, and is 
a beautiful plant, with triangular stems 6 feet 
high, and large compound umbels of little green 
flowers. 
