CA&EX. 265 



are composed of imbricated bractlets called scales or glumes 

 arranged alternately and in 2 rows. Each glume, except the 

 lowest, conceals in its axil one minute, naked flower consist- 

 ing of a 1-ovuled ovary with 3 (rarely 2) stigmas and 3 

 (rarely fewer) stamens. 



The Fruit is an achenium 2 or 3-angled, its seed with a 

 minute embryo in the end of the mealy albumen. 



SPECIFIC CHAEACTERS. Fig. LXX portrays a common 

 Sedge, called Brown Galingale. The root is annual and 

 fibrous. The culms rise 4-10', sheathed and leafy below, 

 naked above, bearing a simple umbel with several rays and 

 an involucre of 3 very unequal leaves. The spikes are clus- 

 tered on the rays, oblong, obtuse, flat, about 8-flowered, and 

 usually brown in color. The tiny flower beneath each glume 

 except the lowest one has only 2 stamens and 2 stigmas, and 

 finally an achenium 2-edged. 



The Name. This pretty plant represents the genus 

 Cyperus a genus of immense extent, dedicated to the 

 Cyprian queen, Venus, the fabled goddess of beauty. * The 

 species is C. didndrus, or the Two-stamened Cyperus, so 

 named by the late Dr. Torrey,f on account of the rare spe- 

 cific character thus denoted. 



Scientific Terms. Culm. Glume. Rays. Scale. Spike. 



LXXI. THE SEDGES. CAREX. 



Description. There is scarcely any kind of soil or 

 locality where a Carex may not grow. Look for them in 

 forest, field or meadow, on mountains or prairies, in lands 



* Cyperus includes not less than 350 species, of which about 40 are natives of the 

 United States. 



t John Torrey, M D., professor of Chemistry at West Point and Princeton, and 

 of Botany in Columbia College, died 1873, aet.77; among American botanists pre-emi- 

 nent, beloved and revered as an instructor, Mend and Christian. 



12 



