552 THE SEDGE FAMILY, 



13. Sea Scirpus. Scirpus maritimus, Linn. 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 542.) 



Eootstock creeping. Steins sliarply triangular, 2 to 4 or even 5 feet 

 high, with long, ilat, pointed leaves, often far exceeding the stem. Spikeleta 

 of a rich brown, ovoid or lanceolate, about 9 lines long, sometimes only 2 or 

 3 in a close sessile cluster, more frequently 8 to 10 in a compound cluster, 

 the outer ones stalked. The leaf-hke outer bract continues the stem, and 

 sometimes one or two other bracts have leafy points. Grlumes notched, 

 with a fine point. Style 3-cleft. Hypogynous bristles few. 



In salt-marshes, and occasionally up the banks of large rivers in most 

 parts of the world, though less frequent within the tropics. Common all 

 round the coasts of Britain. Fl. summer. 



14. TVood Scirpus. Scirpus sylvaticus, Linn, 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 919.) 



Stems triangular, 2 or 3 feet high, with long, grass-Kke leaves. Spikelets 

 ovoid, of a dark shining gi-een, not above 2 lines long, very numerous, in 

 clusters of 2 or 3 together, formmg a terminal, much branched, compound 

 umbel or panicle, with an involucre of 2 or 3 linear leaves. Glumes keeled 

 and pointed. Hypogynous bristles usually 6. Style 3-cleft. 



In moist woods, and on grassy banks of i-ivers, throughout Europe 

 and Russian Asia, except the extreme north, and in North America. Scat- 

 tered over England, Ireland, and southern Scotland, and abundant in some 

 localities, but not generally a common plant. Fl. summer. 



VII, COTTONSEDGE. EEIOPHORUM, 



Habit and characters of Scirpus, except that the hypogynous bristles, as 

 the flowering advances, protrude to a great length beyond the glumes, form- 

 ing silky-cottony tufts, which have given to these plants the name of Cotton- 

 rushes or Cotton-grass. The style is usually 3-cleft. 



A genus of few species, all bog plants, restricted to the northern hemi- 

 sphere, and most abundant in higli latitudes or at considerable elevations. 



Spikelets solitary. 

 Spikelets 2 or .3 lines long, oblong, and brown. Hypogynous bristles 



6 to each flower 1. Alpine C. 



Spikelets above 6 lines long, oToid, of a dark olive-green. Hypo- 

 gynous bristles very numerous 2. Sheathing C. 



Spikelets several to each stem 3. Common C. 



1. Alpine Cottonsedge. Eriophorum alpinum, Linn. 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 311.) 



In everything but the long bristles this plant precisely resembles the tufted 

 Scirpus. It has the same densely tufted stems, 6 to 10 inches high, with 

 imbricate sheaths at the base; the inner ones with very short leafy tips, 

 and small, brown, sohtary and terminal spikelets. After flowering the 

 hypogynous bristles, about 6 to each flower, form a silky tuft attaining an 

 inch in length. 



In bogs, in the high mountain -ranges of Europe and Russian Asia, or at 

 high latitudes all round the Arctic Circle. In Britain perhaps now extinct, 

 the bog near Forfar where it was formerly found being now drained, and if 



