256 FIELD AND WOODLAND PLANTS 



spikelets below ; or they are arranged in a compound spike or 

 panicle. The flowers are all imj)erfect, without perianth ; and the 

 male and female flowers are either in sejiarate spikelets or in different 

 parts of the same one. The glumes overlap all round the axis of 

 the spikelet ; there are generally three stamens ; and the ovary 

 is enclosed in a little vase-shaped covering with a little hole at the 

 top through which the two or three stigmas protrude. 



We give illustrations of two of the commonest species ; the 

 Common Sedge {Carex vulgaris), which flowers from June to August ; 

 and the Marsh Sedge (C. jxtludosa), that flowers in May and June. 

 The former grows to a height varying from six inches to two feet ; 

 and the latter to from two to three feet. 



