SEDGE FAMILY 523 



*^ Spikelets i- or few-flowered ; flowers perfect 



6. Rhynchospora. — Spikelets clustered in heads, terete ; 

 perianth of 6 included bristles ; nut beaked. 



7. ScHCENUS. — Spikelets in compact terminal heads, com- 

 pressed ; glumes in 2 rows ; perianth of few bristles, or absent ; 

 nut not beaked. 



8. Cladium. — Spikelets terete; perianth absent; nut blunt, 

 with a fleshy coat. 



^■^■^ Spikelets i — 2-flowered ; flowers monoecious ; perianth absent 



9. KoBRESiA. — Upper flower in each spikelet staminate, lower 

 carpellate ; ovary enclosed by a glume. 



**** Spikelets many-flowered ; flowers imperfect 



10. Carex. — Glumes imbricate ; ovary enclosed in a persistent 

 bottle-shaped utricle. 



I. Cyperus (Galingale). — Stems triangular; spikelets many, 

 compressed, in terminal or lateral bracteate heads or compound 

 umbels; glumes numerous; distichous, deciduous, each, except 

 the outermost, containing a perfect flower; perianth absent. 

 (Name from the Greek kupeiros, a reed.) 



1. C. fuscus (Brown Cyperus). — Stems short, tufted, grass-like, 

 2 — 10 in. high ; spikelets flattened, blunt, not more than J in. 

 long, in a compact umbel, with 3 unequal, leaf-like bracts, i — 4 

 in. long ; glumes brown, with green keels. — Wet meadows in 

 Middlesex, Surrey, and the Channel Islands. — Fl. August, 

 September. Annual. 



2. C. longus (Sweet Galingale). — A tall, stout plant, 2 — 4 feet 

 high, with a few leaves at the base of the stem ; spikelets numerous 

 in a very large, loose, unequally-rayed, compound umbel, with 

 2 — 3 long, leafy bracts ; glumes numerous, blunt, reddish-brown, 

 with green keels and pale margins. — Wet meadows in the south 

 of England ; rare. The aromatic rhizome was formerly much 

 esteemed as a tonic. — Fl. August, September. Perennial. 



2. Eleocharis (Spike-rush).' — Tufted, glabrous herbs with 

 slender stems ; solitary, terminal spikelets ; glumes numerous, im- 

 bricate, nearly all containing perfect flowers ; perianth of 3 — 6 

 short bristles ; nut compressed, tipped with the persistent base of 

 the style. (Name from the Greek helos^ a marsh, chdiro, I 

 rejoice.) 



I. E. aciculdris (Least Spike-rush). — A slender, tufted plant; 

 rhizome slender, creeping; stems subulate, 2 — 4, or even 12 in. 



