268 THE SEDGES. 



The Yellow Carex is thus distinguished : 



Inflorescence monoecious, $ spike single, $ spikes 2. 



Stigmas 3, and the achenium therefore 3-cornered. 



Peduncles ( $ ) scarcely exserted from the sheaths. 



Perigynia smooth, crowded, inflated, longer than the glume, ovoid, 

 tapering into a slender recurved beak. 



The whole plant is yellowish-green, 10-20' high. The $ spike is ter- 

 minal, cylindric, 10-12" long, the $ spikes roundish to oval, 4-7'' long. 



The Name, Carex, is the old Latin name for these 

 plants,* from careo, I want ; as the upper flowers are con- 

 stantly without seed. C. bullata, the Jewelled Carex, is 

 named for its stud-like perigynia ; C. flava, the Yellow 

 Carex, alluding to the yellowish herbage. Carex is the 

 largest genus in the Flora of North America, f 



Classification. These examples must suffice to repre- 

 sent the great order of the Sedges the CYPERACE^:, known 

 by the following traits : 



Culms solid with pith. 



Leaves linear, channelled, with closed sheaths. 



Flowers spicate, one in the axil of each glume. 



Perianth none, or a few seta, or a perigynium. 



Anthers generally 3, fixed by the base (innate). 



Pistil 1-ovuled, with 2 or 3 stigmas. 



Fruit an achenium 2-edged or 3 cornered. 



The Order of the Sedges includes 120 genera, and 2000 species. 

 They inhabit all climes and countries, but chiefly the meadows, marshes 

 and swamps of the temperate zones. They are of slight use as food, 

 or in the arts. They differ from the grasses in having little sugar or 

 starch, and so form a poor pasture. 



The Nut-grass of the S. States, the pest of the Cotton-fields, is Cyperus 

 Hydra. It multiplies by creeping roots and tubers in spite of hoe and 

 plough. The tubers of C. esculentus, cultivated by the ancient Egyp- 

 tians, may be boiled for food, or roasted for Coffee. The roots of C. 



* See Virg. Eel., in, 20. " Tu post carecta latebras." You hid behind the Sedges. 

 The English term Sedge comes from the Saxon scecg, a sword. 



t About 500 species have been described, of which 200 are natives of the United 

 States. 



