GLUMIFER/E 



305 



from the flowering glume, and cause the stamens and 

 the feathery stigmas elastically to spring out and ex- 

 pose themselves to the air. Shortly the flowers fade, 

 the lodicules shrivel up, and the flowering glume 

 with the palea regain their former position. Oryza 

 sativa is protogynous, and Maize distinctly protan- 

 drous. In the male spikes of the Maize the presence 

 of female flowers, and therefore of 

 single ovaries, is not uncommon. 



Nat. Order 2. Cyperacece. — 

 Herbs with grass- like aspect. 

 Distinguished from Graminacece 

 or true Grasses by (i) usually 

 solid triangular stem, (2) tri- 

 stichous leaves, (3) absence of 

 ligule, and (4) closed tubular 

 sheath. 



This is a large family of plants 

 universally distributed, especi- 

 ally in moist situations and on 

 the margins of streams. Com- 

 mon plants: mootha {Cvpertts 

 rotutidus); madur-kati {Cyperus 

 tegetum), the split stems of which are used in the 

 manufacture of ordinary mats; and keshur {Scirpus 

 grossus, var. Kysoor); Scirpus triqtietery var. segregata 

 (fig. 275) is the Club-Rush of the Sundarban. The 

 Papyrus or paper of the Egyptians was obtained 

 from the compressed pith of the Egyptian Papyrus 

 {Papyrus antiqttorujti or Cyperus Papyrus), a native 

 of the Upper Nile and other African rivers. 



It is a distinctly anemophilous familj-, cross-polli- 

 nation being fevoured by protogyny, more rarely by 

 protandry or dioecism. The Cyperaceae are commonly 



known by the name of Sedges. 



(CMS) 21 



Figf. 275. — Scirpus iriquctert 

 \AT. se^^regata. Club - Rusli 

 of Sundarban 



