The Book of Grasses 



THE SPIKE-RUSHES. (Eleocharis) 



Shining, hair-like stems of Spike-rushes often cover the soil 

 between clumps of coarser sedges, and in many places the Large 

 Spike-rush occupies low ground by streams and ditches where its 

 roots are sometimes under water. The smallest species are but 

 a few inches in height, but the largest Spike-rushes are occasion- 

 ally five feet tall. All are similar in appearance and are very 

 unlike other sedges. The round or four-angled stems are slender, 

 usually rather soft or weak, and grow closely together, and the 

 leaves are reduced to basal sheaths tinged with reddish brown. 

 The flowers are always borne in a small, solitary spikelet which 

 caps the stem, and in some species the spikelet is so narrow as to 

 be no wider than the stem itself. Under the lens a perianth of 

 bristles is noticed, and the triangular or roundish seed is seen to 

 be tipped with the persistent base of the style. 



Slender Spike-rush (Eleocharis tenuis), is very common in open 

 marshes from Canada to the Gulf, and even before the plant blooms 

 the soft, dark green, hair-like stems may be recognized as they 

 glisten in the sunlight and sway with the slightest breeze. With 

 the Slender Spike-rush, which is usually about a foot in height, the 

 smaller species are often seen forming loose mats above the mud, 

 and in shallow water or in the edges of ponds the round, erect 

 stems, two to four feet high, of the Large Spike-rush {Eleocharis 

 palustris) are common. 



SAND-MAT. (Stenophyllus) 



In walking along railway tracks one may often find on the 

 embankments a rich harvest of flowers that are less common else- 

 where. Even on the road-bed beneath the cars or in the sand 

 between the tracks many sturdy little plants find place to grow 

 and to mature seeds amid seemingly the most adverse conditions. 

 The Sand-mat {Stenophyllus capilldris) is one of the low-growing 

 plants found in such locations, and between railway ties the tufts 

 of dark green thread-like stems capped with blackish green spike- 

 lets are frequently common. The plant also grows in moister 

 places but wherever it is found it is always low and slender, rarely 

 a foot in height, and usually rising but a few inches from the soil. 



FIMBRISTYLIS. (Fimbristylis) 



The Slender Fimbristylis {Fimbristylis Frdnkii), and a closely 

 related species {Fimbristylis autumnalis), are small, grassy plants 



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