42 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



ments. Stems solitary, erect, triquetrous, stiff. Panicle urnbellato- 

 corymbose, lax ; branches 5 to 12, elongate, arching, one to three times 

 branched. Spikelets linear, attenuated at each end. Glumes 3- to 

 5-nerved, always erect, chestnut-red, Avith a green midrib. Stigmas 

 3. Nut triquetrous. 



In marshes and wet meadows. Very rare. It occurs in the counties 

 of Cornwall, Somerset, Dorset, Wilts, Isle of Wight, Kent, and Pem- 

 broke, but possibly not native in some of the stations. It is abundant 

 in the Channel Islands. 



England. Perennial. Autumn. 



Rootstock rather thick, aromatic. Stem 18 inches to 3 feet high 

 or more, about as thick as a man's little finger at the base, tapering 

 upwards. Leaves 2 or 3; all in the lower half of the stem, firm, 

 grooved above or sharply keeled beneath, scabrous at the edges, 

 bright green and shining above, pale and dim beneath ; sheaths reddish- 

 brown at the base. Involucre of 3 or more unequal leaves; the lowest 

 very long (often 1 or 2 feet), arching. Longest branches of the panicle 

 3 inches to nearly a foot long. Spikelets | to f inch long, in distichous 

 or subdigitate clusters. Glumes J inch long. The mature nut I have 

 never seen, though I have gathered the plant in the Isle of Wight as 

 late as the end of September. 



Galiirgale. 



French, Souchet long. 



The roots of this plant were once esteemed as an aromatic tonic, hut are now fallen 

 into disuse. Gerarde says : " It increaseth blood by warming the body, and maketh 

 good digestion ; wonderfully refreshing the spirits, and exhilarating the minde, com- 

 forting the senses ; and encreasing their liveliness, restoring the colour decayed and 

 making a sweet breath." 



GENUS II.—S C H CE N U S. Linn. 



Flowers perfect, arranged in few-flowered spikelets, disposed in a 

 dense ovoid or cylindrical head. Glumes of each spikelet 3 to 9, di- 

 stichous, keeled; 1 to 4 of the upper ones bearing flowers in their 

 axils ; the lower ones smaller and empty. Hypogynous bristles 1 to 

 6, denticulate, small, sometimes absent. Stamens 3. Style deciduous, 

 its base slender, sometimes persistent; stigmas 3. Nut trigonous, 

 tipped by the slender base of the style or pointless. 



Rushlike herbs with narrow rigid radical leaves, and naked or rarely 

 leafy scapes. 



The name of this genus is from the Greek xo^yoe or axoit'ot, a cord. The first 

 cordage used is supposed to have been made from these plants. 



