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CLUB RUSHES 635 
been added. They grow naturally in marshy places and on the margins 
of rivers; they consequently require plenty of water in cultivation. C. 
alternifolius will do well as an indoor window plant, and is very effective 
for table decoration. C. longus would succeed better planted out on the 
margin of lake or stream. C. Papyrus should be grown in a large pot 
filled with rich loam; the pot then stood in a tub that is ever filled with 
water. Where there is a conservatory tank for the growth of aquatics, 
the pot should be plunged beneath the water. Or the Papyrus may be 
planted in a basket of heavy loam, and about the end of May this can 
be immersed in any piece of ornamental water outside where it will get 
plenty of sunshine. Sometime in September or early in October, according 
to the season, it should be removed indoors and kept free from frost, but 
not dry. C. Papyrus is propagated by dividing the thick, creeping, 
underground rhizomes. The other species may be increased by dividing 
the crowns, or by means of seeds sown in pans of sandy loam, and raised 
in gentle heat. 
Description of Cyperus alternifolius, the Alternate-leaved Cyperus ; 
Plate 298. upper part of stems, natural size. Fig. 1 is a branch of the 
inflorescence bearing five spikelets. Fig. 2 is a flower separated from the 
spikelet, and consisting of the boat-shaped glume within which, and 
attached to its broad end, are the pistil and three stamens. 
CLUB RUSHES 
Natural Order CYPERACE&. Genus Scirpus 
Scirpus (the old Latin name). A genus of about three hundred species 
of stove, greenhouse, or hardy annual or perennial aquatics and marsh 
plants. They are closely allied to Cyperus, but differ chiefly in the 
spikelets being usually clustered into oval heads, which are produced 
from the side of the stem. This difference of form (seen by comparing 
the Figs. 1 on Plates 298 and 299) is due to the attachment of the glumes 
all round the stalk, instead of on two sides only (though this arrangement 
will be found in one section of the genus). There is no representation 
of the perianth in some species, including S. riparius, but in most cases 
it will be found in the shape of from three to eight bristles below the 
ovary. There are three stamens, and the style is cleft into two or three 
lobes and jointed at the base, so that it falls off when its work is done. 
The plants have a creeping rootstock, and the few leaves are at the base 
of the stem, or absent altogether; they are either very long, small, and 
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