AMONG THE WILD FLOWERS. 221 
XII., are always tokens of the presence of 
bog-land. In this genus the flowers are in 
clusters of heads, often with the anthers pro- 
truding in plenty between the ./umes or scales, 
which enclose the stamens and nuts, or germens. 
The bristles which surround the nut ultimately 
lengthen and become silky in appearance, 
waving in the breeze above the bog. The silk 
of £. Polystachion is a beautiful and elegant 
object. Schenus nigricans, Black Bog-rush, has 
blackish brown spikelets and whitish shining 
fruit, the spikelets in a terminal roundish head. 
Of the Grasses, Vardus stricta, Mat-grass, is 
a pretty species with spikelets in a slender 
double row, the plant itself forming dense tufts 
upon which the foot can always be safely set in 
crossing a wet moor. Besides this, it does not 
appear that there is any other Bog-grass. 
The Bog Ferns are Lastrea cristata, and 
L. Thelypteris ; Athyrium, Lady-Fern, often ; 
and Osmunda. Of Lycopodiunis, L. tnundatum 
is found in bogs. The genus V7zo/a contri- 
butes V. palustris in bogs in hilly districts, 
with pale lilac flowers having purple streaks, 
scentless; and the genus S%e//aria gives us S. 
uliginosa, Bog-stitchwort. 
