362 WEEDS AND USEFUL PLANTS. 
beaked a nd inflated) sac or pera . Akene lenticular or triquetrous 
(according as the stigmas are 2 or 3), more or cts oar i th the sd eo I 
of the style. Perennial herbs with usually caespitose culm h a 
angular, often nodose and leafy. Spzkes terminal fe aiillaxy, nceity 
bracted a Oeae 
’ Obs. The three sees ies here described, are inserted merely as samples 
of a very extensiv a of unprofitable ee —of wes every raged 
gent farmer would like to know somet ose who may desire t 
become better acquainted with the family, ill find hoy species well ae 
scribed, in various Monographs and Flor 
SPIKES ALL ANDROGYNOUS. 
+ Spikes clustered, staminate at their summit. i aa 2. 
0 Muhl. 
racteate——of 8-10 crowded clus iti ; fruit pressed, ovate, acumi- 
nate, 3-nerved, scabrous on the margin, "finally "diver eine so shorter 
than the ovate cuspidate scale. 
~Vounrina-Like Carex. Sedge. Sedge-grass. 
Culm about 2 feet high, obtusely triangular and leafy at base, acutely triquetrous above. 
Leaves \ance- linear, channelled above, scabrous on the mar, gin,—the upper ones 0 rer 
topping the culm leayes. 2-3° 
inches long, form éd of n ous spi ikelets which aaa cr rowde 4 oe Foret a on ir 
rated from each other, <a either cecireanel te o the Bracts at base 
of the cnet ean spike, and also of the principal pronto often ine and tinier — 
those at the base of the apie lets, short, setaceous and scabro Staminate mes. lan- 
esonihe, with a short poin Pist istillate glumes ovate, with a hing serrulate point. Fruit 
3-nerved, bifid at apex, averse small, densely sitter finally much diverging, and yel- 
Swamps and low grounds : Northern and Middle States. F7. May. r. July. 
ett be some 3 aig is a very worthless plant ; ‘and is often 
a n wet nea s. fo of the akenes, in Carex— 
e those of Polygonum, already noticed—has a tant relation to 
cons 
number of styles or stigmas. When the stigmas (or 
) are 2, the akene is compressed, and ancipital or 2-edged ; but 
when are 3 the iene is Roiiiemly triquetrous. A similar 
relation, between the form of the akene or nut, and the number of the 
styles or stigmas, appears to exist in atone other instances,—as in 
ex, Rheum, Scirpus, Cyperus, Fagus, Morus, Alnus, Betula, &e, 
&c., and the law may, perhaps, be general. i 
** STAMINATE AND PISTILLATE SPIKES, DISTINCT. 
: + Staminate spike solitary : pistillate subsessile. Stigmas 3. 
? C. 2h seniacns ta, Muh. Staminate spike bracteate, on a short pe 
; pistillate spikes about 3 , cylindric-oblor Sp iage hori- 
Lanes ‘the uppermost sessile, the lower on short 
