THE RUSHES 



715 



They require three years to reach maturity. 

 Their contained seeds are large, suggestiv^e 

 of a fruit-stone, hence the name Stone 

 Pine. Each seed has a tiny wing wholly 

 inadequate for any purpose of flight. 

 This Pine has, in its later evolution, 

 come to rely upon animal agency for the 

 dispersal of its seeds. 



The Weymouth Pine. The needles here 

 are live in a bundle, sheathed at the base 

 only when first expanded. They are 

 long, ver\' thin, and soft in te.xture. 

 These are also crowded together, forming 

 considerable tufts, spreading in summer, 



but closing together in winter. The cone 

 is long and thin, spindle-shaped, and 

 curved. Its most distinctive peculiarity 

 lies in the fact that the swelling on the 

 cone-scale is not central but at the tip. 



The Himalayan Pine is scarcely distin- 

 guishable from the Weymouth except 

 that its needles are longer and its cones 

 larger every way. 



Note. — Other imported Pines are 

 " too numerous to mention," but those 

 briefly distinguished above are most 

 frequently met with. 



Henry Irvi.vg. 



*1 



THE true Rushes are a small family 

 that, nevertheless, spread them- 

 selves in ample fashion over 

 the world. 



The general impression of the Rush, 

 as recognised in such common varieties 

 as the Soft Rush, Hard Rush, etc., with 

 cylindric leaves and inconspicuous flowers, 

 would hardly lead us to suppose that the 

 plant was a near relative of the Lily 

 family. Yet such is the case, for in the 

 classification of the Order Hypogynce 

 (plants having the perianth, or corolla and 

 calyx collectively — inferior, or absent 

 altogether), the LiliacecB and Juncacew 

 have many points in common. 



The two Orders are placed consecutively : 

 in both, the sepals, petals and carpels 

 number three in each instance, the stamens 

 six — as a duplication of the idea of three — 

 the seed-capsule is three-chambered, and 

 the seeds either three or many. 



To ordinary observation a great differ- 

 ence exists between the conspicuous flowers 

 of the Lily family, and the inconspicuous 

 brown ones of the Rushes ; >'et the 

 magnifying glass dispels the illusion to a 

 very considerable extent. 



Of the Lily family, I would instance the 

 Bog Asphodel {Narthcciitm ossifragiim), 

 with its tufts of grass-like leaves and 

 yellow star of six petals, and the Flowering 

 Rush [Butomus iimbellatus) — a single 

 specialisation from the Alismacece or Water 

 Plantain famih" — -as showing distinct re- 

 lationship to the Rushes. The latter 

 plant has six rose-coloured perianth leaves, 

 the three outermost tingeing towards 

 brown and approaching the colour-idea 

 of the perianth leaves of the Rushes. 

 The long leaves of the Butomus are in 

 character sharply keeled and sheathed 

 on the stems like the Sedges, yet the 

 flowering construction is that of the 

 Rushes. 



A magnifietl flower of Juiicus com- 

 pressus. with the six oval perianth leaves 

 expanded showing the six stamens Iving 

 within them surrounding the seed-cajisule, 

 has a close resemblance to tluit of the 

 Flowering Rush, although the latter 

 plant possesses nine stamens and si?: 

 carpels. The tribe Juncacccr are deflnitely 

 distinguished by the cylindric leaf of 

 polished surface filled with pith ; they 

 are sometimes grooved, but rarely flat 



