SEDGE FAMILY 



545 



rough ; staminate spikelet 2 — 3 in. long, slender, pale ; pistillate 

 spikdets 4 — 5, not more than 2 in. long, cylindric, green, long- 

 stalked, drooping when in fruit ; bracts broad, long, and leafy, 

 without sheaths ; glumes narrow, pointed, rough, green ; styles 

 3-cleft ; fruit spreading, lanceolate, ribbed, with long, stiff, 2-fid 

 beak. — River-banks ; not common. — Fl. June. Perennial. 



68. C. acutifbrmis (Pond Sedge). — A 

 tall, stout species, with a creeping root- 

 stock and runners ; stems 2 — 3 feet high, 

 stout, 3-angled, rough ; leaves erect, long, 

 broad, glaucous ; staminate spikelets 2 or 3, 

 1 — 2 in. long, sessile, dark brown, with 

 blunt glumes; pistillate spikelets 2 or 3, 

 rather distant, sessile, or the lowest 

 shortly stalked, often 2 in. long, erect, 

 cylindric, blunt, with pointed glumes; 

 bracts leafy, without sheaths ; styles 3-cleft ; 

 fruit ovate, slightly triangular, but much 

 flattened, tapering into a very short, 2-fid 

 beak. — Ditches ; common. — Fl. May, 

 June. Perennial. 



69. C. ripdria (Greater Pond Sedge). — 

 A nearly allied, but much larger species, 

 being by far the largest British Sedge ; 

 stems 2—5 feet high ; leaves broader ; 

 spikelets more numerous and very large, 

 3 — 6 staminate, crowded, i| — 2 in. long, 

 with acute glumes, 4 — 6 pistillate, pointed ; 

 fruit oblong-ovoid, convex on both sides. 

 — Ditches ; common. — Fl. May. Peren- 

 nial. 



70. C. infldta (Bottle Sedge).— A stout, 

 tufted and creeping species, with stems 

 1 — 2 feet high, smooth, slightly 3-angled ; 

 leaves long, channelled, glaucous ; spikelets 

 1 — 2 in. long or even more, 2 — 3 staminate, 2 — 4 pistillate, 

 remote, erect, stout, cylindric, pale, the lowest shortly stalked ; 

 bracts leafy, without sheaths ; styles 3-cleft ; fruit flask-shaped, 

 that is, ovoid, inflated, narrowing suddenly into a long slender 

 beak. — Bogs ; common. — Fl. May, June. Perennial. 



71. C. rhynchophysa, a taller and more glaucous, somewhat 

 tufted plant, 2 — 3 feet high ; bracts leaf-like, longer than the 

 staminate spikelets ; spikelets curved outwards at the base, 3 — 4 

 pistillate, 4 — 6 staminate, the pistillate ones 2 — 3 in. long, the 



NN 



cArex acutif6rmis 

 {Pond Sedge). 



