532 



CYPERACEjE 



with grass-like, chiefly radical leaves; monoecious, or rarely 

 dioecious flowers, the stamens and ovaries being always in separate 

 glumes, either in different parts of the same spikelet, which is 

 then called "mixed," or in separate spikelets; glumes imbricate; 

 stamens 3, rarely 2, without a perianth ; ovary enclosed in a vase- 

 shaped covering; style protruding; stigmas 2 — 3. (Name Classical, 

 connected with the Greek keiro, I cut, in allusion to the sharp- 

 edged leaves.) 



t Spikelet simple, solitary, and terminal 



1. C. dioica (Dioecious Sedge). — A slender plant, 6 — 12 in. 

 high, with runners ; leaves very narrow, smooth ; spikelets bearing 

 stamens only or pistils only, and with stamens and pistils on 

 different plants, brown, the staminate ones cylindric and pale, 

 the pistillate ovoid, brown ; style 2-cleft ; fruit erect, with rough 

 edges. — Spongy bogs ; common. — Fl. May, June. Perennial. 



2. C. Davallidna (Davall's Sedge), a tufted plant, without 

 runners, with rough edges to its leaves and drooping fruit, occurred 

 formerly near Bath, but has been lost through drainage. 



3. C. pulicdris (Flea Sedge). — A small tufted plant, without 

 runners, 3 — 8 in. high; leaves narrow, erect, involute; spikelet 

 about nine lines long, the upper half bearing stamens ; 3 to 7 of 

 the lower glumes enclosing pistils ; style 2-cleft ; fruit oblong, 

 pointed, about 2 lines long, drooping when ripe. — Bogs ; common. 

 — Fl. May, June. Perennial. 



4. C. rupestris (Rock Sedge). — A creeping, tufted plant, with 

 runners; stems 3 — 6 in., 3-edged ; leaves flat, stiff, revolute, ending 

 in a wavy, rough point; spikelet \ — 1 in. long, linear, dark 

 brown, shining, the upper half staminate ; style 3-cleft ; fruits 

 obovate, adpressed. — Lofty Scottish mountains. — Fl. July, August. 

 Perennial. 



5. C. pauciflora (Few-flowered Sedge). — A slender species, with 

 long runners; stem seldom more than 6 in. high, slender, 3 -angled, 

 smooth ; leaves narrow, involute ; spikehts pale briown, 3 or 4 

 lines long ; flowers few, the 2 or 3 uppermost staminate, the 2 or 

 3 lower ones pistillate ; styles 3-cleft ; fruit narrow and pointed, 

 reflexed. — Moorland bogs in the north. — Fl. June, July. Perennial. 



ft Spikelets several, all similar, short, sessile, in a compound 

 spike, mostly with both staminate and pistillate flowers ; styles 

 2-cleft 



6. C. incurva (Curved Sedge). — Root-stock long, creeping ; stems 

 stout, 2 — 3 in. high, usually curved, so as to bring the large head 

 of spikelets down to the ground ; leaves channelled, involute, 



