THE SEDGE TRIBE. 263 



into a perfect sheath. These distinctions are the 

 more important, from heing accompanied by others 

 in the parts of fructification, and also by an ab- 

 sence of all those useful properties for which Grasses 

 are remarkable. The most common genus of the 

 whole order is the Sedge (Carex); a species frequent 

 on wet commons, called " the hairy" (C. hirta), will 

 supply us with an illustration. Its solid triangular 

 stem (Jig. 2.), and its hairy leaves agree with what 

 has just been mentioned. Its flowers are arranged 

 in heads, and are of two kinds ; one sort occupying 

 the upper end of the stem {fig. 1. a. a.) consists of 

 barren flowers only ; each flower (Jig, 2. ) has an 

 oval brownish membranous scale and three stamens, 

 and the heads are composed of nothing but such 

 flowers. The other kind of head (fig. 1.6.) appears 

 a little below the others, is green, and consists of 

 fertile flowers only. Like the barren heads this is 

 chiefly composed of imbricated scales, but in place of 

 the stamens you find (fig. 4.) a hairy bottle-shaped 

 body, split at the end into two lobes, from between 

 which three stiginas project. Open the bottle and 

 you will discover that the stigmas are connected wdth 

 a single style, springing from the top of a three-cor- 

 nered ovary. This is all that the fertile flowers 

 consist of; the bottle is formed by two scales which 

 are placed opposite each other, and grow together 

 at their edges, and is a mark of the genus Carex ; 

 most others of the Sedge tribe are without it, and 

 contain nothing but a naked pistil. When the fruit 

 (fig. 6.) of the Carex is ripe, it is still enclosed in the 



