480 THE SEDGE FAMILY. 
usually 2. Style branches 3. Nut tapering at the top, the outer coating 
thick and fleshy when fresh, brittle when dry. C. germanicum, Schrad. 
. In deep bogs and marshy places, in most temperate and some tro- 
pical regions of the globe, extending northward in Europe to southern 
Scandinavia. In Britain, thinly scattered over England, frequent in 
the west of Ireland, and very rare in Scotland. FI. late in summer. 
7 IV. RHYNCHOSPORA. BEAKSEDGE. 
Spikelets several, in 1 or more clusters, forming terminal or axil- 
lary heads or panicles. Each spikelet oblong, more or less pointed ; 
the glumes imbricated all round the axis, 1 to 3 of the upper or inner 
ones containing each a flower, the lower or outer ones shorter and 
empty. Stamens 3 or rarely 2. Hypogynous bristles 6 or sometimes 
more, shorter than the glumes. Nuts globular or laterally flattened, 
tapering into a 2-cleft style. 
A considerable genus, widely dispersed over the surface of the globe, 
formerly united with Schenus, but well distinguished by the glumes 
imbricated all round the axis, not arranged in 2 opposite rows. 
Spikelets brown. Outer bract projecting an inch beyond the flowers. 1. R. fused. 
Spikelets white. Outer bract shorter or ae lange than the 
flowers . : : : ¢, (2c: dee Ges 
1. R. fusca, pee (fig. 1088). ee B.—Near R. alba, but rather 
firmer, with a creeping rootstock. Stem 6 to 10 inches high, with a 
few short, erect, subulate leaves ; the floral ones or bracts projecting 
an inch or more beyond the flowers. Spikelets brown, usually forming 
2 rather loose clusters, one terminal, the other on a slender pedicel, 
in the axil of the next leaf ; each spikelet about 24 lines long, contain- 
ing usually 2 flowers, with 3 or 4 empty outer glumes. Hypogynous. 
bristles about 6, small and very unequal. 
In bogs, chiefly in northern and western Europe, in the mountains 
of central Europe, and in North America, In Britain, confined to 
southern and western England and Ireland. Fl. summer. 
2. R. alba, Vahl. (fig. 1089). Waite B.—Stems 6 to 9 inches high, 
slender, forming dense, grass-like tufts, without any creeping rootstock. 
Leaves chiefly radical, short and subulate ; the floral bracts scarcely 
exceeding the flowers. Spikelets nearly white, in a small, loose ter- 
minal cluster, often with 1 or 2 smaller clusters on slender ped- 
uncles in the axils of the next leaves. Each spikelet 2 to 24 lines long, 
with 1 or 2 flowers, and 2, 3, or 4 empty glumes before them. | Hypo- 
eynous bristles about 12, more apparent than in #. fusca, being usually 
rather longer than the nut, although shorter than the glume. 
In bogs, in northern and central Europe, northern Asia, and North 
America. Generally distributed over Britain. Fl. summer and autumn. 
V. BLYSMUS. BLYSMUS. 
Spikelets and flowers of Scirpus, but the spikelets are sessile, in 2 
opposite rows, along the axis of a short terminal spike. 
A genus limited to the two European species, often united with 
Scirpus. 
