CYPERACEAE (SEDGE FAMILY) 73 
scales five to eight, narrowly ovate, thin, appressed, striate, with 
scarious margins; usually the lowest two and the awl-like one at 
the point of the spikelet are empty. The three-sided, oblong 
achene is only about half the length of the scale. (Fig. 37.) 
Means of control 
Prevent seed production. Persistent, thorough, and late culti- 
vation is necessary in order to hinder the development and dispersal 
of seeds and to destroy the rootstocks. Partly ripened heads 
should never be plowed under, but should be removed, either to 
compost heap or bonfire. 
MEADOW RUSH 
Scirpus atrévirens, Muhl. 
Other English names: Club Rush, Dark-green Bulrush. 
Native. Perennial. Propagates by seeds 
and by rootstocks. a 
Time of bloom: June to July. 
Seed-time: July to August. 
Range: Nova Scotia to the Saskatchewan, 
southward to Georgia and Missouri. 
Habitat: Wet meadows, marshes, and bor- 
ders of streams. 
One of the most widely distributed of 
its tribe and a bad weed in low grass- 
lands, for it is worthless as fodder, either 
green or dry. Culms smooth, obtusely 
triangular, leafy, two to four feet tall. 
Leaves pale green, a quarter-inch to a 
half-inch wide, rough-edged, two or three 
of the upper ones whorled and extending 
above the flower cluster. Umbels com- 
pound, the spikelets densely crowded in 
capitate clusters of ten to thirty at the 
ends of the branched rays; scales greenish 
brown, oblong-ovate, bristle-pointed ; sta- 
mens three; style three-parted; perianth y,¢, 3g.— Meadow Rush 
composed of six bristles, downwardly (Scirpus atrovirens). X 4. 
