22 



KEY AND FLORA 



(The family is too difficult for the beginner, but the struc- 

 ture and grouping of the flowers may be gathered from a 

 careful study of Figs. 2, 3.) 



Fi(i. 4. — Inflorescence, Flower, and Seed of a Sedge. 

 (Great Bulrush, Scirpus lacustris.) 

 A, magnified flower, surrounded by a perianth of hypogynous bristles ; B, the 

 seed ; C, section of the seed, showing the small embryo enclosed in the 

 base of the endosperm. 



CYPERA'CE^. Sp:dge Family 



Grass-like or rush-like herbs, with solid, usually triangular 

 stems, growing in tufts. The sheathing base of the generally 

 3-ranked leaves, when present, is not slit as in grasses. The 



