546 GRAMfNE^E 



staminate ones i — 2 in. ; styles deeply 3-cleft ; fruit globose, 

 tapering into a rather long beak. — Found in 1892 by Mr. Lloyd 

 Praeger in Mullaghmore Lough, co. Armagh. — Fl. July, August. 

 Perennial. 



72. C. vesicdria (Bladder Sedge). — Nearly allied to C. infldta, 

 but with rough, triangular stems ; flat, green leaves ; rather shorter 

 spikelets ; and fruits, although inflated, more conical, tapering 

 gradually into a shorter subulate beak. — Bogs ; less common than 

 C. rostrdta. — Fl. May, June. Perennial. 



73. C. saxdtilis (Russet Sedge). — An alpine form of the preced- 

 ing ; root-stock creeping, the scaly runners ending in tufts of 

 leaves; stems 4 — 10 in. high, leafy; spikelets 3 or 4, distant, 1 or 

 2 staminate, the pistillate ones ovoid, dark brown, 6 — 8 lines 

 long, the lowest on a slender stalk, with a leafy bract at its base ; 

 styles 2-cleft ; fruit ovoid, inflated with a very short, 2-fid point. — 

 Only found on the higher Scottish mountains. — Fl. May, June. 

 Perennial. 



Ord. XCI. GRAMfNEiE. — The Grass Family 



The grasses form one of the largest, most naturally defined, 

 and most widely distributed Orders in the Vegetable Kingdom, 

 and at the same time one which is unrivalled in its utility to man. 

 It comprises about 3,600 species in 310 genera. They are ever- 

 green, annual, or perennial herbs, though some of them reach a 

 large size, Bamboos being sometimes 100 "feet in height and 

 nearly a foot in diameter. Many perennial grasses have rhizomes 

 or grow in tufts. The stem is furnished with prominent nodes 

 with long, generally hollow internodes, is circular in section, or 

 2-edged, and contains much siliceous matter, being often hard 

 and polished externally. The Maize (Zea Mays) and the Sugar- 

 cane {Sdccharum officindrum) are exceptional in having solid 

 stems. The leaves are alternate, simple, and usually linear, with 

 no petiole, except in a few Bamboos, but with a long sheath 

 embracing the stem, and split down the side opposite to that 

 on which the blade is. At the junction of the sheath and blade 

 there is generally a little membranous outgrowth, termed the 

 ligule. The flowers are in spikelets, and these are variously 

 arranged in spikes, racemes, or panicles. Each spikelet consists 

 of 1 — 5 flowers, arranged alternately on a very short axis, or 

 rachilla, but some of these flowers are often represented merely 

 by glumes. At the base of the rachilla are usually two boat- 

 shaped, green or purplish glumes with nothing in their axils. 

 Within these are the flowers, each with two other glumes, the 



