536 CYPERACE-S:. 



Subclass 3. GLUMACE.S:. 



1094. Flowers glumaceous, consisting of bracts or scales, which are 

 imbricated, and not arranged in true verticils. Leaves with parallel 



1095. Order 209. Cyperaceie, the Sedge Family. (Mono-hypog.} 

 Flowers hermaphrodite or unisexual, generally without a perianth. 

 Each flower furnished with a solitary bract (glume or scale). These 

 bracts are imbricated upon a common axis, and the lowermost are 

 often empty. Occasionally they enclose two or three opposite mem- 

 branous bracts or glumes. (In the female flower of Carex, the two 

 inner bracts receive the name of Perigynium). Stamens hypogynous, 

 definite, 1-12; anthers dithecal, innate. Ovary 1-celled, often sur- 

 rounded by hypogynous bristles (setse), which are probably abortive 

 filaments; ovule erect, anatropal; style single, 2-3-cleft; stigmas un- 

 divided, sometimes bifid. Fruit a crustaceous or bony achgenium or 

 nut (fig. 519); embryo lenticular, enclosed within the base of fleshy 

 or farinaceous albumen (fig. 519 e); plumule incon- 

 spicuous (fig. 759). Grass-like herbs with fibrous roots. 



Their stems are solid, often without joints, sometimes 



creeping (fig. 91), frequently angular. The leaves are 



narrow, and their sheaths are entire, not slit. They 



are found in all quarters of the globe, and in various 



localities, from the sand on the shore, to the tops of 



the mountains. Many of them occur in marshy ground. 



Lindley enumerates 112 genera, including 2000 species. 



Exampks Cyperus, Eriophorum, Scirpus, Fuirena, Cladium, Schre- 



nus, Scleria, Elyna, Carex. 



1096. None of the plants of the order possess important medicinal 

 qualities. The creeping stems of Carex arenaria. disticha, and Jrirta, are 

 diaphoretic and demulcent, and have been used in medicine under the 

 name of German Sarsaparilla. Papyrus antiquorum is the Papyrus of 

 the Nile, the cellular tissue of which was used in the manufacture of 

 paper. Some say that the word woj in the Bible, translated Bulrush, 

 is either the Papyrus or a species of Cyperus. The word rrrw has 

 been translated Paper-Reeds. The species of Eriophorum are called 

 Cotton-grass, on account of the woolly-like substance which is attached 

 to the base of the ovary. Some species of Cyperus have tubers at the 

 lower part of their stems, which are used as food. The roots of Cy- 

 perus longus have been used as bitter and tonic remedies, while those 

 of C. odoratus are aromatic. Some species of Scirpus are used for 



Fig. 759. Embryo of Carex depauperata, separated to show the structure of that body in the 

 natural order Cyperacese. r, Kadicle. c a, Cotyledon. /, Slit for the plumule. 



