668 



THE NATURE BOOK 



point tipping the glumes that gives a 

 sUghtly softened appearance to the group ; 

 the interior bristles are invisible. The 

 umbel is complex in the variable length of 

 the stalks of the panicle, and again in that 

 of the individual spikelets. There is, further, 

 a fringing of leafy bracts that spring from 

 the axis of the umbel in adchtion to the 

 leafy extension of the flower stem itself. 

 In true Sedge fashion the blades fold 

 flatly together in the early stage of growth, 

 giving a generally flattened formation to 

 the whole tuft of blades grouped together 

 in something of a fan shape. The further 

 expansion spreads them broadly open, 

 when they curve freely outwards from the 

 flower stem ; the deep groove or channel, 

 however, never becomes obliterated. 



This character is repeated in the Twig 

 Rush, or Prickly Cladium {Cladium maris- 

 ciis). Here we have one of the isolate 

 species as far as Britain represents the 

 class. Approaching near the Beak Sedges, 

 it is distinguished from them in habit, 

 although coming nearer in some of the 

 exotic varieties. 



One of the distinguishing characters is 

 the thick texture of the fruit. The nut- 

 like seed tapers at the top, the outer 

 coating being dense and fleshy until dry, 

 when it becomes brittle. It is a bog 

 or marsh plant of most temperate regions, 

 with a representative in some tropical 

 parts. In Britain it is scattered, not 

 perhaps commonly, over England and 

 Ireland, but is quite local in Scotland. I 

 have met with it in Wiltshire, growing 

 in the run of a very old mill-stream, where 

 the water entered a meadow through an 

 imderground channel which cut a deep 

 ditch and collected the mud about the 

 roots of the water-plants. The Bur Reed 

 flourished there also, and many square 

 yards of the Soft Rush spread into the 

 grass — a haunt of the moorhens and 

 yellow wagtail. This Cladium is a tall 

 rush-like plant, with strong, creeping 

 rootstock and leafy stems varying from 

 three to six feet high. The leaves are 

 erect, or nearly so, the lower ones nearly 

 as long as the stem, which they sheath at 

 the base, l^ecoming afterwards sharply 

 keeled and terminating in a long, narrow 

 point. The keel ancl edges are very 

 sharply cutting, being bordered by minute 

 teeth. The coflective panicle of spikelets 



is long in shape, sometimes twelve inches ; 

 the indi\'idual clusters are small but 

 numerous, of pale-brown colour, set in the 

 axils of the upper leaves. The group of 

 glumes contains usually one perfect flower 

 in the innermost glume, an incomplete 

 one in the next, whilst the four or five 

 outer ones are empty and shorter in forma- 

 tion, the stamens being two in number. 

 The plant flowers late in the summer. 



Our next illustration certainly inclines 

 one to regard it as a Rush rather than a 

 Sedge. Nevertheless the ]\Iud Rush 

 {Scirpus holoschoeniis) is a true Sedge by 

 reason of many distinct characteristics, 

 notably the nut-like seeds enclosed in 

 the mass of glumes that form the brown 

 globular heads, and held as lateral umbels 

 on the stem. 



In this species, as in some others, the 

 outer bract of the umbel is prolonged as a 

 stiffened extension that tapers to a fine 

 point. The secondary bracts are variable 

 both in length ancl strength. In the 

 upper portion of the right-hand specimen 

 we see how the bract has rolled inwards 

 at the edges, producing the stiffened 

 strength of an almost cylindric form. 

 The four-foot stems are so throughout, 

 with one or two stiff leaves only, wrapping 

 the extreme base. As the name suggests, 

 it is a mud-loving plant — the tidal mud of 

 our southern and western shores, where 

 sand mingles with it. There are other 

 varieties, including the Scirpus fluitans, or 

 Floating Mud Rush, a slender-jointed 

 plant ; 5. cerniiits, the Bog variety, a much 

 slighter plant of only ten inches in height, 

 and the Bristle-like Mud Rush, 5. setacens, 

 that is smaller still, sometimes less than six 

 inches. All of them are perennial in habit, 

 but S. holoschceniis flowers later than the 

 others — during September and October. 



The Marsh Spike Rush is strongly 

 individual in expression, and possesses 

 four differing methods according to cir- 

 cumstances. The tribe Elcocharis, of 

 which E. paliisfris is the representative 

 selected, are named from the Greek terms 

 kelos, a marsh, and chairo, I rejoice. This 

 Marsh Spike Rush rejoices in its habitat 

 as a creeping plant, with strong rhizome 

 that branches, sending up the slim stems 

 with their terminal flower spikes high 

 above the water line. 



This is the all-important determination, 



