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enous families: the cat-tail family, the bur-reed family, the 

 pond-weed family, the arrow-grass family, and the tape-grass 

 family. At the junction of the brook with this pond is the 

 water-plantain family, including, besides the water-plantain, 

 several species of arrow-head {Sagittaria) . A little beyond, 

 in the brook, may be found the water-poppy family, repre- 

 sented by the water-poppy, a showy plant common in tropical 



Following to the north comes the large group of the grasses 

 and grass-like plants, those whose flowers, mostly very small, 

 are subtended by chaffy scales or glumes. This is rep- 

 resented by the grasses and the sedges, several beds being 

 devoted to each of these familis. Some of the more familiar 

 grasses are: timothy, Kentucky blue-grass, reed canary- 

 grass, orchard grass, red-top and tall fescue-grass, all used 

 in making hay. Other grasses of interest are : sweet vernal- 

 grass, exhaling a pleasant odor when bruised; the Japanese 

 plume-grass, in several forms, very ornamental; the ribbon- 

 grass, a variegated form of the reed canary-grass, and also 

 ornamental; and species of many other genera. 



The sedges are represented mainly by the large genus 

 Carex, perhaps the most striking of which is Fraser's sedge, 

 from the southeastern United States, at one time one of the 

 rarest of plants, but rediscovered in recent years in large 

 quantities in the mountains of North Carolina. The tussock 

 sedge, common in our swamps in early spring, the cat-tail 

 sedge, Gray's sedge and the fox sedge, are others belonging 

 to this genus. There are also representatives of bullrushes 

 and other sedges. 



Following the sedges is the arum family, having as repre- 

 sentative plants, familiar to many, the skunk cabbage, the 

 green arrow-arum, the green dragon, the jack-in-the-pulpit, 

 and the sweet flag. In the brook opposite to this family may 

 be found the somewhat related duckweed family; the duck- 

 weeds (Lemna) are very common, these tiny plants sometimes 

 occurring in such numbers as to cover the surface of ponds 

 and slowly moving streams. Along the edge of the brook 



