a 
478 THE SEDGE FAMILY. 
Several of the lower glumes of each spikelet smaller and 
empty. Spikelets closely sessile, in compact heads . 2. SCHM@NUS. 
Glumes in each spikelet timbricated all round the axils. 
Spikelets sessile, in a terminal spike, arrangedin 2 opposite 
rows. ; ; P : ‘ : . 5. BLYSMUS. 
Spikelets solitary, or in heads, clusters, umbels, or 
panicles. 
Several of the lower glumes of each spikelet smaller 
and empty. Only 2 or 3 flowers at the top of each 
spikelet. - 
Spikelets very numerous, in a compound panicle. 
Style-branches 3. : : ‘ A F 5 . 3. CLADIUM. 
Spikelets few, in 1 or 2 terminal or pedunculate , 
clusters. ‘Style- branches 2 . 4. RHYNCHOSPORA. 
All the glumes of the spikelet, excepting one outer 
larger one, containing flowers. 
Hypogynous bristles (within the glume round the 
flowers) projecting far beyond the glumes and 
forming long cottony or silky tufts : 7. ERIOPHORUM. 
Hypogynous pristles shorter than the glumes or none 6. SCIRPUS. 
I. CYPERUS. CYPERUS. 
Stems triangular, leafy at the base. Spikelets in clusters or heads, 
usually several together, one of them sessile, the others stalked, in a 
terminal, irregular, umbel-like panicle, with an involucre of 1 or 
more leaf-like outer bracts. Glumes several in each spikelet, regularly 
arranged in 2 opposite rows, all nearly equal, with 1 flower in each 
elume. Stamens and ovary under the same glume, without hypogynous 
bristles. 
A. very large tropical genus, represented by very few species in tem- 
perate regions, and quite disappearing in the extreme north and south. 
The regular arrangement of the glumes gives the spikelets a flattened 
appearance readily recognised. 
Stem above a foot high. Spikelets numerous. Involucral leaves 
very long : : ; . : ; : ; . Ll. C. longus. 
Stem less than a foot high. Spikelets in a small cluster. Involucral 
leaves not above 3 inches . ’ 4 : -. 2 Cy fuseus, 
1. ©. longus, Linn. (fig. 1083). Galingale. —Rootstock creeping. 
Stems stout, 1 to 3 or even 4 feet high, with a few leaves at the base, 
usually shorter than the stem. Involucre of about 3 leaves, very un- 
equal in length, the longest often attaining a foot or more. Umbel 
simple or compound, the central ray very short, the others varying 
from 1 to 2 or even 3 inches, each bearing a simple or branched cluster 
of 6 to 12 or more spikelets : these are linear, pointed, flattened, about 
half an inch long. Glumes numerous, obtuse, of a bright chestnut 
colour, with a green keel. Styles 3- cleft. 
Tn wet meadows, and pastures, common in southern Europe and cen- 
tral Asia, extending more sparingly into central France, and along the 
western provinces to the Channel. In Britain, very local and only 
in South Wales and some southern counties of England. Fi. summer, 
rather late. 
2. C. fuscus, Linn. (fig. 1084). rown C.—A much smaller plant 
than the last, forming grass-like tufts a few inches in height, or very 
rarely nearly a foot. Leaves shorter than the stem, those of the in- 
volucre unequal, the longest from 2 to 4 inches. Clusters compact, 
either in a small terminal head or in an umbel, of which the longest 
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