CYPERACE^:. 



Rhizoma rootlike very long and cordlike, spreading in the loose 

 sand to a great extent, branching at the extremity, and sending out 

 from the knots many shaggy fibres. Hence it powerfully binds the 

 sand together, forming banks which resist the force of the ocean. 

 Stems terminal, solitary, about a foot high, erect, except in a driving 

 sand, triangular ; rough-edged in the upper part ; leafy below. Leaves 

 several, flat, rough-edged, taper-pointed, about as tall as the stem. 

 Spike erect, 1^ or 2 inches long, of many, more or less crowded, 

 roundish-ovate, brown spikelets ; the upper ones consisting almost 

 entirely of male florets, with 3 stamens ; lower principally of fertile 

 ones, with 2 sessile stigmas, the latter being always inferior. Bracts 

 lanceolate, acute. Utricle ovate, ribbed, flattened, bordered in its 

 upper half with a dilated rough-edged membrane, and terminating in a 

 cloven beak. There is always a bristle-pointed leaf, under one, or 

 more, of the lower spikelets. Smith. The creeping stems are reported 

 to be diaphoretic, and to be possessed of demulcent and alterative 

 powers. They are collected on the continent, and sold under the 

 name of German Sarsaparilla. 



1309. C. hirta Linn. sp. pi. 1389. E. Bot. t. 685. Smith 

 Eng. Fl. iv. 125. Common in wet places, by the sides of 

 ditches, &c. in Europe. 



Stem rootlike, creeping extensively, with long, stout, scaly runners, 

 and densely shaggy roots. Whole herb clothed, more or less copiously, 

 with fine, soft, shaggy hairs, which occasionally disappear almost 

 entirely, in wet situations, except at the top of the sheaths of the 

 leaves, never quite smooth, and usually thickly bearded. Stem erect, 



2 feet high, leafy, with 3 sharp rough angles. Leaves scarcely so tall, 

 upright, flat, rough-edged, pointed, most hairy beneath. Bracts like 

 the leaves, their sheaths, which are often smooth, embracing nearly the 

 whole of each flowerstalk. Male spikes 2 or 3, lanceolate, erect, 

 light-brown, their filmy-edged scales pointed; lower ones awned; 

 female 2 or 3, distant stalked, erect, cylindrical, or somewhat ovate, 

 about an inch long ; their scales ovate, smooth, membranous, keeled, 

 with long, slender, rough awns. Stamens 3. Stigmas 3. Utricle 

 ovate, tawny, ribbed, hairy, tumid all round, though scarcely inflated ; 

 the beak broad, rough, deeply cloven, acute. Grain roundish, with 



3 angles, tipped with part of the style- Smith. This has a reputation 

 like that of the last, and is said to be administered with advantage in 

 rheumatic and cachectic affections. 



1310. C. intermedia Gooden. (disticha Huds.). To this are 

 assigned the same properties as to the two last. 



614 



