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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 (Sagzttarza). A little beyond, 
in the brook, will be found the water-poppy family, repre- 
sented by the water-poppy, a showy plant common in tropical 
regions. 
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 families. 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; Job’s tears, 
the ivory-like fruits of which are often used for beads in 
tropical regions, where it is common; the Japanese plume- 
grass, in several forms, very ornamental; the ribbon-grass, 
a variegated form of the reed canary-grass, and also orna- 
mental; 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 will 
be found the somewhat related duckweed family; the duck- 
weeds (Lenina) 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 
