SUPPLEMENT. 
THE FAMILIES OF FLOWERING PLANTS. 
By Cuaries Lovuts Poruarp. 
CHAPTER IV. ( Continued.) 
Grass family, embracing 75 genera and about 2800 species, 700 
of which are contained in the single genus Carew. Sedges are 
widely distributed over the globe, some genera being characteristic of 
arctic or high alpine regions, while others form impenetrable jungles or 
‘‘brakes”’ in tropical swamps. 
The larger proportion of the 
species prefer wet ground, al- 
though many of our commonest 
forms may be found along dry 
roadsides or in upland meadows. 
The economic uses of these 
plants are not very extensive. 
The stems of the common bul- 
rush, Scirpus lacustris afford 
material for the manufacture of 
mats, baskets, and the so-called 
‘rush-bottomed”’ chairs; while 
certain species of Curee and 
Cyperus are not without value 
as forage plants. Many sedges 
= growing along the sea coast 
Fic. Bai audoied Gaperis (Cyperus strigo- perform important service as 
sus.) After Britton and Brown, Ill. Fl. Northern , ‘sand binders.’ 
oe There are many points of 
similarity in floral structure between the sedges and the grasses, In 
T family Cyperaceae, or Sedge family, is less extensive than the 
