The Sedge Family 



clumps and rest against the alders and the low shrubby 

 growth of the thickets. Indeed, if there be truth in the 

 old couplet concerning 



"The aider whose fat shadow 



nourisheth, 

 Each plant set near to him 



long flourisheth;" 



Fox Sedge 

 Carex vulpinoidea 



the Fringed Sedge, with its rank 

 growth, would seem to have 

 derived benefit from that "fat 

 shadow." The plant blooms in 

 midsummer, and at that season 

 the long, drooping spikes are 

 very noticeable with their spread- 

 ing, long-awned, brownish green 

 scales. The staminate spikes are 

 sometimes fertile at the base or 

 in the middle, while the pistillate 

 spikes are frequently staminate 

 at the tips. 



Another common and easily 

 recognized sedge of low grounds 

 is the Little Prickly Sedge {Carex 

 scirpoides) which blooms during 

 the spring and summer. The 

 leaves are thread-like, and the 

 slender stems, seldom rising more 

 than fifteen inches from the soil, 

 form low tufts of light, glistening 

 green. The three to six tiny 

 spikes are very short and are al- 

 most globose in form and as they 

 open widely appear like small, 

 star-shaped flowers. 



Slender Sedge (Carex gracilr 

 lima) is common in moist mead- 

 ows and also in drier soil by the 

 waysides, where this plant is fre- 

 quently found in the low, hedge- 

 321 



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m 



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Fescue Sedge 

 Carex feslucacea 



