SWEET SEDGE TRIBE 297 



anthers ; and yet lower down, another ring of sessile ovaries. The 

 upper part of the spadix soon falls off, leaving the ovaries, which 

 finally become a cylindrical mass of scarlet berries, which are con- 

 spicuous objects when all the rest of the plant has withered and 

 disappeared. The spadix with its sheath may be discerned 

 wrapped up in the young leaf-stalks, even before the leaves have 

 risen above the surface of the ground. Hedges and woods ; common 

 in most parts of England. — Fl, May, June. Perennial. 



Natural Order XCII 

 ORONTIACE^.— Sweet Sedge Tribe 



Flowers perfect, arranged on a central column or spadix, at first 

 enclosed in a sheath ; perianth of 4-8 scales ; stamens equalling the 

 scales in number ; ovary superior ; fruit-, a berry. A tribe of 

 plants nearly allied to the Aracee, and resembling them in pro- 

 perties. Calla JEthiopica, the White Arum Lily so frequently seen 

 in greenhouses, grows so plentifully in parts of Cape Colony 

 that pigs are often turned into the swamps where it abounds, 

 to fatten on its roots, whence it is commonly called " Pig Lily " 

 in that country. Acorus calamus, or Sweet Sedge, supplied the 

 " rushes " with which, before the use of carpels had been intro- 

 duced into England, it was customary to strew the floors of the 

 great. As it did not grow in the neighbourhood of London, but 

 had to be fetched at considerable expense from Norfolk and Suffolk, 

 one of the charges of extravagance brought against Cardinal 

 Wolsey was that he caused his floors to be strewed with rushes too 

 frequently. 



I. Acorus (Sweet Sedge). — S/zea^/e leaf-like, not 

 convolute, overlapping the spadix. (Name in 

 Greek denoting that the plant has the power of 

 curing diseases of the eye.) 



I. Acorus {Sweet Sedge) 



I. A. calamus (Sweet Sedge). — The only 

 British species. An aquatic plant, with some- 

 what of the habit of a sedge or large grass. It 

 is easily distinguished from all other British 

 plants by its peculiar spadix, and the fragrance 

 of its roots, stems, and leaves. Watery places Acorus Calamus 

 in Norfolk and Suffolk. — Fl. June. Perennial. (Sweet Sedge) 



