OEDEE CXXXVni. EEIOCATJLONAOEiE. OEDEE CXL. GEAMINE^, 



129 



barren, 3 with extrorse anthers. Ovary l-eelled, with 3 parietal 



f)laoent£e ; or 3-oelled. Styles 3, partially united Stigmas 

 obed. Capsule many-seeded. 



A small and chiefly tropical order, represented here hy several specieB of 

 Xyris ( Yellow-eyed Graea). 



and thongh cattle feed on them, thoy afford little nutriment Oypema dian- 

 drns, flg. 88, Scirpus laoustrls, fig. 89, and Carex tentaculata, flg. 40 are Ulua- 

 trattons of the more abundant forms. 



GROUP vin. 

 Order CXXXVIII. — Eriocaulonaceas. 



Perennial, aquatic herbs. Leaves linear, spongy, sheathing 

 at base. Flowers moncEoious, or dicecious, in dense, hemispheri- 

 cal heads. Perianth 2 — 6-parted, or wanting. Stamens 6, either 

 all perfect, or some of them abortive. Anthers 1-oelled. Ovary 

 either 1 or more-celled; ceUs 1-secded. 



A very small, chiefly S. American order, of which Eriocaulon (Pipeworf) 

 Is an example. 



GROUP IX. 

 Order OXXXIX. — Cyperaceae. 



Herbs, usually perennial, coarse, grassy, csespitose plants. 

 Culms usually solid, without joints or nodes, mostly triangular. 

 Leaves with entire sheaths, sometimes wanting. Flowers soli- 

 tary, each in the axil of a glume-like bract. Perianth wanting, 

 or else reduced to mere bristles. Stamens usually 3, sometimes 

 2, or 1. Styles 2 — 3, more or less united. Fruit an achenium. 



Fig. 88. 



Fig. 89. 



A very large order of coarse gri 

 places and swamps thronghont the world, but most abundantly in the cooler 



j-lifce unimportant plants, growing in wet 



vorld, but most abundantly in the cooler 



portions. They are applied to very few uses, notwithstanding their abundance, 



17 



Fig. 40. 



Order CXL. — Grramineae. 



Perennial herbs with fibrous roots, rarely arising from bulbsi 

 sometimes annual or biennial. Culms cyUndrical, usually fista- 



Fig. 41. 



lar, closed at the nodes, sometimes solid. Leaves entire, usually 

 narrow, alternate, with the sheath split from one node down to 



