THE SEDGE TRIBE 305 



flowers ; bristles 3-6 ; stamens 3 ; style deciduous, jointed with the 

 top of the fruit ; stigmas 2 or 3. (Name from the Greek helos, a 

 marsh, and chairo, I rejoice, because the species flourish in marshes.) 



3. Scirpus (Club-Rush). Perennial herbs, usually stiff and 

 rush-like ; spikelets several, in terminal or lateral heads or clusters, 

 or sometimes solitary ; glumes imbricate all round the axis, or in 

 2 rows, all but the 1 or 2 lowest bearing perfect flowers ; bristles 

 1-6 or none ; stamens 3 ; style deciduous, not swollen at the base ; 

 stigmas 2 or 3. (Scirpus is the old Latin name.) 



4. Blysmus (Blysmus). Often included in Scirpus ; it differs 

 in having the spikelets sessile in 2 opposite rows, forming a short 

 terminal spike. (Name from the Greek bluso, I gush out ; the 

 species grow near springs or wet places.) 



5. Eriophorum (Cotton-Grass). Similar to Scirpus, but as the 

 flowering advances the bristles protrude a long way beyond the 

 glumes, forming silky-cottony tufts ; style usually 3-branched. 

 (Name from the Greek erion, wool, and phero, I bear.) 



Spikelets 1- or few-flowered ; flowers usually 2-sexual / 

 Perianth absent or consisting of bristles. 



6. Rhynchospora (Beak-Sedge). Tufted leafy herbs ; spikelets 

 terete, in axillary and terminal corymbs or panicles ; glumes im- 

 bricate all round the axis, 1-3 of the upper or inner ones each con- 

 taining a flower, the lower shorter and empty ; stamens 3, rarely 2 ; 

 bristles 6 or sometimes more, shorter than the glumes ; nut taper- 

 ing into a 2-branched style. (Name from the Greek rhunchos, a 

 beak, and spora, a seed, in allusion to the beaked fruit.) 



7. Schcenus (Bog-Rush). Usually stiff rush-like herbs ; spike- 

 lets in compact, compressed terminal heads ; glumes in 2 opposite 

 rows, not more than 4 of the uppermost in each spikelet with 

 flowers, the lower shorter and empty ; bristles none, or 3-6 and 

 minute ; nut not beaked. Name from the Greek schoinos, cord ; 

 some of the species have been used in making cordage.) 



8. Cladium (Fen-Sedge). Rush-like herbs, with a creeping 

 rootstock ; stem 3-6 feet high, leafy ; leaves nearly erect, the 

 lowest nearly as long as the stem, ending in a long, triangular 

 point ; spikelets pale brown, in numerous small clusters placed in 

 the upper axils, the whole forming a leafy panicle often a foot 

 long or more, each spikelet 1-3 flowered ; glumes 5 or 6 in each 

 spikelet, imbricate all round the axis ; bristles o ; nut tapering at 

 the top, with a fleshy coat when fresh. (Name from the Greek 

 klados, a twig.) 



