156 . HORDEAIL 



the margin, the stems hollow, and the fruit a grain. The 

 sedges have the sheaths closed, completely surrounding the 

 stem, the stems are solid and the fruit is an achene. Practi- 

 cally all the grasses we have in New Mexico have leaves that 

 are easily recognized as leaves while many of the Cyperaceae 

 have the leaves reduced to sheaths without any blade and 

 these hardly reaching above the surface of the ground. 



Many of the sedges and their allies grow only in wet 

 soils — in the mud beside streams or springs, on the edges 

 of the ditches with their roots in the water, in boggy places, 

 in the saturated soils of the mountain meadows and cienagas. 

 Many of them will endure much alkali in the soil if there be 

 plenty of water and nearly all of them are restricted little or 

 not at all by the climatic differences of the different zones, 

 ranging all the way from the Lower Sonoran up to and 

 through the Transition Zones. 



The different genera differ among themselves as is 

 indicated in the key and list following. 



Cyperus Two species of Cyperus, C. rnsby and 

 C. fcndlerianus, occur in the timbered parts of the mountains 

 and to some extent on the higher plains and will at once be 

 called grasses by the careless observer. They may be recog- 

 nized by their triangular stems and the group of leaves sur- 

 rounding the panicles of flowers. These plants though never 

 forming a sod are an important part of the forage crop of 

 such regions and are eaten freely by the stock of all kinds. 

 They are perennials and hence are part of the permanent for- 

 age crop for such regions. ffi 



Nut Grass (Cyperus esculentus) and C. erythrorhisos 

 and C. speciosus, both of which closely resemble Nut Grass 

 in a general way, occur as weeds in the cultivated fields, and 

 especially in lands subject to flooding. They are introduced 

 species and the Nut Grass is getting to be pretty widely dis- 

 tributed. 



Cladium jaiuaicense is a tall reed-like sedge witli 



