(6 4 ) 



grass, all used in making hay. Other grasses of interest 

 are: sweet vernal-grass, exhaling a pleasant odor when 

 bruised; the Japanese plume-grass, in several forms, very 

 ornamental; the ribbon-grass, a variegated form of the reed 

 canary-grass, and also ornamental; and species of many 

 other genera. 



The sedges are represented mainly by the large genus 

 Carex, of which there are many species, native in the United 

 States, growing in swamps, meadows and woodlands. 

 Fraser's sedge (Cymophyllus Fraseri), is a striking plant 

 from the southeastern United States, at one time one of the 

 rarest of plants, but rediscovered in recent years in large 

 quantities in the mountains of North Carolina. The 

 tussock sedge, common in our swamps in early spring, the 

 cat-tail sedge, Gray's sedge and the fox sedge, are others 

 belonging to the genus Carex. There are also representa- 

 tives of bullrushes and other sedges. 



Following the sedges is the arum family, having as repre- 

 sentative plants, familiar to many, the skunk cabbage, the 

 green arrow-arum, the green dragon, the jack-in-the-pulpit, 

 and the sweet flag. In the brook opposite to this family 

 may be found the somewhat related duckweed family; the 

 duckweeds (Lemna) are very common, these tiny plants 

 sometimes occurring in such numbers as to cover the surface 

 of ponds and slowly moving streams. Coming now to the 

 spiderwort family, we have represented mainly the spider- 

 worts and day-flowers. In a small pool and along its 

 eastern edge is placed the pickerel-weed family. Here 

 may be found a large clump of the pickerel-weed {Ponte- 

 deria) which is common in swamps and along streams in 

 the vicinity of New York; here may also be found the 

 water-hyacinth, which has become such a pest in some of 

 the rivers of Florida and the West Indies, and the closely 

 related blue water-hyacinth, of more straggling habit, also 

 of tropical origin, planted out in summer. 



The rush family occurs next in the sequence, represented, 

 among others, by such familiar plants as the common bog- 



