CYPERACEAE iv 
POALES. (GRAMINALES.) 
Leaves 3 ranked, with closed sheaths; stems usually solid; fruit an 
achene, 1. Cyperaceae. 
Leaves 2 ranked, with open sheaths; stems usually hollow; fruit a 
cariopsis. 2. Poaceae. 
1. CYPERACEAE, 
The sedges, 
The sedges are closely related to the grasses which they resemble 
so much that they are often confused with them, Most sedges prefer 
a moist soil but a few are xerophytic. In low meadows they often 
furnish a Jarge part of the forage, but are inferior to the true grasses 
for hay and pasture. Some sedges are called ‘“wire-grass” by farmers. 
Flowers of the spikelets all, or at least one of them perfect, achene 
not in a closed perigynium. 
Perianth of scale-like sepals. 
Sepals 3 petal-like. 1. Fuirena. 
Sepals single, hyaline. 2. Hemicarpha. 
Perianth of bristles or wanting; not of scales. 
Scales of the spikelets spirally imbricated. 
Base of style persisting as a tubercle on the achene. 
Spikelets solitary. 3. Eleocharis. 
Spikelets in a terminal umbel. 4. Stenophyllus. 
Base of the style not persistent as a tubercle on the achene. 
Style swollen at the base; perianth none. 5. Fimbristylis. 
Style not swollen at the base; perianth usually present. 
Bristles, if present, not long and hairlike. 6. Scirpus. 
Bristles long, hairlike. 7. Eriophorum. 
Scales of spikelets in 2 ranks, 
Inflorescence axillary, perianth of bristles. 8. Dulichium. 
Inflorescence terminal, perianth wanting. 9. Cyperus. 
Flowers monoecious or dioecious; achene in a perigynium. 10. Carex 
1. Fuirena, 182. 
Perianth-scales awned at the tip. 1. F. squarrosa. 
Perianth-scales awned below the tip. 2. F. simplex. 
1. Fuirena squarrosa Michx, 
Nebraska, according to Britton’s Manual. 
2. Fuirena simplex Vahl. 
In wet soil mostly along streams, Kearney; Minden. 
2. Hemicarpha, 183. 
Scales brown, with short spreading or recurved tips. 1, H. micrantha. 
Scales pale with squarrose awns equal to their own length. 
. ja. micrantha var. aristulata. 
1. Hemicarpha micrantha (Vahl.) Pax. 
In moist soil over most of the state; frequent on sand-bars, Atkin- 
son; Cherry County; Fremont; Ewing; Long Pine; Minden. 
1a. Hemicarpha micrantha aristulata Coville, 
Long Pine. 
