The Book of Grasses 



Q 



3 srigTiW 



asrigmas 



scales 



broken horizontal ridges 



and well repay a close exam- 



PfiriciLftilix ination with the microscope. 



SEDGES. (Cdrex) 



Sedges of this widely distributed 

 genus grow in abundance in wet , 

 meadows, by brooksides, and in all f 

 swampy places. In a rich locality ^ 

 more than fifty species may be 

 gathered in the course of a sum- 

 mer, and to the student these 

 plants are more perplexing than 

 are the grasses, since between 

 many of the sedges the difference 

 is too slight to be obvious save to 

 patient study aided by good lenses. 



"Shear-grass" is an old English 

 name for the sedges, and one that 

 is most appropriate, since the leaves 

 and stems of many species are sharp- 

 edged and can cut sorely if carelessly 

 handled. 



The plants of this genus are 

 perennials, growing in tufts, and 

 sending up many long-leaved, sterile 

 shoots which, like the flower-bearing 

 stems, are three-angled at the base. 

 The flowers are borne in spikes in 

 which the staminate and pistillate 

 flowers are variously arranged: some 

 sedges show spikes composed partly 

 of fertile and partly of staminate 

 blossoms, while in other sedges 

 whole spikes are of one form of 

 flower. The difference between the 

 two forms is especially noticeable 



Showing dif- 



scaks, rJSs', as the seeds ripen. The staminate 



and perigynia 

 in sedges be- 

 longing to the 

 genus Carex 



w 



Tufted Sedge 

 Carex stricta 



spike is narrow and slender, but the pistillate spike 

 increases in thickness with the ripening seed. When 

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