190 Field, Forest, and Wayside Flowers 



above the first and the fifth above the second, 

 so that if one should draw a line through the 

 bases of the leaves it would intersect three in 

 the course of one complete spiral turn. 



The number three dominates the sedges through- 

 out their organization. It occurs repeatedly, or is 

 traced obscurely, in their flowers, for they are 

 lily-kin. Inferentially the ancestors of all the 

 sedges had three pistils, or a single pistil divid- 

 ing into three stigmas, three stamens, or six, in 

 two trios, three petals, and three sepals. They 

 were, in many respects, like the rushes of to- 

 day. 



But their descendants have departed, more or 

 less widely, from the ancient family traditions. 

 For some species have but two stigmas, whole 

 groups have two stamens, or manage to get along 

 with one, and two tribes bear stamens in one 

 flower and pistils in another. 



Sedge-blossoms grow in spikes, clumps, or clus- 

 ters, massed together so closely that their calyxes 

 and corollas, when they possess any, are utterly in- 

 effective. 



But as the wind is their sole messenger, nowa- 

 days, there is no reason why they should allure 

 and charm insects, as their ancestors may have 



