GRASSES, SEDGES AND SOME SEPTEMBER FLOWERS 



BY MAJOR R. W. SHUFELDT, R. A. O. U., ETC. 



MEDICAL CORPS, U. S. ARMY 



THERE are two great families of plants of which 

 hundreds of species occur all over the world, far 

 up towards either Pole, and which are especially 

 numerous in the temperate zones. The first is the Grass 

 family (Gram- 

 ineae) and the 

 second the 

 Sedge family 

 ( Cyperaceae ) . 

 Some of the 

 species of these 

 run very close 

 together ; 

 though as a 

 rule, after a 

 little study, 

 one finds no 

 great difficulty 

 in making them 

 out. They have 

 been studied in 

 all countries by 

 botanists for 

 ages past with 

 the utmost care, 

 and as a con- 

 s e q u ence we 

 find d e s c rip- 

 tions of them 

 carrying a 

 w o n d e rfully 

 extensive term- 

 inology. Not 

 only do the 

 species occur 

 in great num- 

 bers, but we 

 find a marvel- 

 ously rich glos- 

 sary of terms 

 to name their 

 various parts 

 and characters. 

 All this should 

 not, however, 

 frighten us 

 away from the 

 collecting and 

 considerat i o n 

 of these most elegant, often dainty, and highly artistic 

 representatives of the plant world. 



In the United States there are many hundreds of dif- 

 ferent kinds of grasses and sedges, and the month of 



September is 

 them. As a 

 studies almost as soon 



THE LAW FORBIDS THE PLUCKING OF WILD FLOWERS IN ANY OF THE PUBLTC PARKS 

 IN WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA; THEY FLOURISH HERE IN THE NATIONAL 

 ZOOLOGICAL PARK. 



This scene is just above Pierce's Mill, 



Rock Creek, and it is 

 National Capital. 



a fine one in which to collect and study 

 matter of fact, we may commence such 

 as the spring opens, continuing 

 with it the entire year round. For ordinary investiga- 

 tion, and for 

 the purpose of 

 1 d e n t i f ying 

 species, we 

 have an excel- 

 lent text book 

 in the seventh 

 illustrated edi- 

 tion of Gray's 

 New Manual 

 of Botany, 

 which is a 

 handbook of 

 the flowering 

 plants and 

 ferns of Cen- 

 tral and North- 

 eastern United 

 States and ad- 

 jacent Canada. 

 (1908.) In this 

 very useful 

 work, the Grass 

 and Sedge 

 families have 

 been revised 

 and illustrated 

 by Prof. A. S. 

 Hitchcock. 

 Nearly every 

 genus has a 

 typical species, 

 or rather its 

 essential char- 

 acters, figured, 

 which greatly 

 facilitates the 

 matter of iden- 

 tification; while 

 additional and 

 very essential 

 a s s i s tance is 

 rendered by the 

 v o 1 u m i nous 

 glossary at the 

 end of the volume. The illustrations are especially help- 

 ful, and through them we may, in most cases, identify 

 almost any species of grass or sedge of the New Eng- 

 land or Middle States' flora. 



a favorite resort for the people of the 



