52 2 CYPERACEiE 



represented only by minute scales or bristles ; carpels i — 3 ; ovary 

 i-chambered, i-ovuled ; seeds albuminous. 



Ord XC. Cyperace^e. — The Sedge Family 



A large Order of grass-like and rush-like plants, comprising 

 more than 2,000 species in about 60 genera, occurring in all 

 parts of the world, but especially in the colder parts of the 

 Northern Hemisphere, where they often cover large areas of 

 marshy ground. Their stems are generally solid, often 3-angled, 

 and without enlarged nodes ; their leaves have a tubular sheath, 

 and are generally linear, being commonly tristichous and sharply 

 folded longitudinally ; and their flowers are often imperfect. The 

 perianth is often absent, or consists of three or more scales or 

 bristles. The stamens are i — 6, usually 3 in number, with flat- 

 tened filaments and basifixed anthers. The ovary is i -chambered 

 and sometimes 3-angled and enclosed in a flask-shaped mem- 

 branous covering known as a utricle, formed of 2 united bracte- 

 oles ; there is a single terminal style and 2 — 3-cleft i'/zgma ; and 

 the fruit is a small indehiscent, i-seeded caryopsis. 



The Sedges differ mainly in structure from the Grasses in their 

 solid, angular stems with unswoUen nodes ; their tristichous 

 leaves with unsplit tubular sheaths ; their basifixed anthers ; and 

 their less feathery stigmas. They differ in a still more marked 

 manner in their properties and uses to man. Their harsh leaves 

 and stems contain but little sugar, and form but poor pasturage, 

 nor do they seem readily susceptible of improvement under culti- 

 vation in the size of their grain. The stems of the Bulrush 

 {Scirpus lacustris) are used for the rush bottoms of chairs, for 

 making hassocks and mats, and by coopers for placing between the 

 staves of casks. Those of the African Papyrus antiquorum, cut 

 in slices, furnished the paper of ancient Eygpt. 



■^ Spifielets many -flowered ; flowers perfect 



1. Cyperus. — Spikelets compressed ; glumes in 2 rows, 

 deciduous. 



2. Eleocharis. — Spikelet solitary, terminal ; perianth of 3 — 6 

 included bristles. 



3. Scirpus. — Spikelets clustered, lateral ; perianth of 3 — 6 

 included bristles, or absent. 



4. Blysmus. — Spikelets alternate, in a bracteate spike ; 

 perianth of 3 — 6 included bristles. 



5. Eriophorum. — Spikelets terminal perianth of long exserted 

 bristles becoming silky. 



