SEDGE FAMILY. 359 



mostly 3. Ovary 1-celled, with a single erect ovule, becoming in fruit an dkene, which is 

 lenticular when the style is 2-cleft, and triangular when it is2-cleft. Embryo minute at 

 the base of farinaceous albumen. 



An Order of some 50 genera, remarkable for their worthlessness ; and also for their 

 presence, or prevalence, at least, being an indication of swampy, neglected, or valueless 

 land. The herbage of this Order, unlike that of a large number of the Gramiueae, or 

 true Grasses, contains but little saccharine matter ; and therefore is neither nutritious nor 

 palatable to stock. 



An example is given of three of the genera, selecting such as are likely to attract the no- 

 tice of the farmer. They are favorite plants with the Botanist, and those who have a 

 curiosity to know more of them will find them described in the Floras. 

 Flowers perfect, 2-ranked : spikes few -many-flowered. 



Perianth none. 1. CYPERUS. 



Flowers perfect, scales imbricated in several ranks. 

 Perianth of 3 - 6 bristles. Achenium pointed with the continuous base 



of the style. 2. SCIRPUS. 



Flowers monoecious in the same or separate spikes (sometimes dioeci- 

 ous). Achenium enclosed in a sac, lenticular or triangular. 3. CAREX. 



1. CYPE'KUS, L. GALINGALE. 



[An ancient Greek name, of uncertain etymology.] 



Spikelets many-flowered, or rarely few-flowered. Scales distichously im- 

 bricated, the lowest ones empty and sometimes smaller. Perianth none 

 of any kind. Stamens 2 or 3. Styles 3 (rarely 2,) united below into one, 

 deciduous. Akene crustaceous, triquetrous or compressed. Perennial 

 herbs. Culms simple, often triquetrous, leafy and sheathed at base. Leaves 

 grass-like. Spikelets in loose spikes, involucrate fascicles, or umbels ; pe- 

 duncles unequal, sheathed at base. 



1. C, strigo'sus, L. Spikes compressed, linear awl-shaped, crowded 

 at the summit of the rays of a large open umbel ; sheaths of the pedun- 

 cles 2-bristled ; style trifid ; stamens 3 ; achenium linear-oblong. 

 STRIGOSE CYPERUS. Bristle-spiked Galingale. 



Culm 1-2 or 3 feet high, triquetrous, smooth, leafy below and tuberous at base. Leaves 

 rather broad, acute, keeled, nearly as long as the culm, somewhat scabrous on the mar- 

 gin. Umbel 3 -6 or 9-rayed, rather spreading ; rays unequal, 1 or 2 -4 or 5 inches long, 

 triquetrous, sheathed at base, the central ones suppressed (i. e. the central spikes sessile). 

 Spikes yellowish, about three-fourths of an inch long, the scales somewhat loosely imbri- 

 cated, striate, with a green keel and yellowish sides. Styles long, 3 united in one, distinct 

 at summit. Akene triquetrous, oblong, acute, roughish-dotted. 



Wet meadows and low grounds : throughout the United States. Fl. August. Ft: Sep- 

 tember. 



Obs. This species is inserted not as being a particularly troublesome 

 weed, but as one of the most conspicuous of the genus, in the swampy 

 meadows of the middle and northern States. The two which follow 

 belong rather to the Southern States, and are there regarded as real 

 scourges by the Planters. 



2. C. phymato'des, Muhl. Boot creeping, tuberiferous at the ex- 

 tremities ; umbel mostly simple, 4-6-rayed ; involucre about 3-leaved, 

 much longer than the rays ; spikes linear, obtuse, sub-compressed, ap- 

 proximated, somewhat spreading, each 12 - 20-flowered. 



" Nut Grass," of Florida. 



