486 THE SEDGE FAMILY. [Scirpus. 



Stems sharply triangular, 2 to 4 or even 5 feet high, with long, flat, 

 pointed leaves, often far exceeding the stem. Spikelets of a rich brown, 

 ovoid or lanceolate, about 9 lines long, sometimes only 2 or 3 in a close 

 sessile cluster, more frequently 8 to 10 in a compound cluster, the outer 

 ones stalked. The leaf-like outer bract continues the stem, and some- 

 times one or two other bracts have leafy points. Glumes notched, with 

 a fine point. Style 3 -cleft. Hypogynous bristles few. 



In salt marshes, and occasionally up the banks of large rivers in 

 most north temperate regions, though less frequent within the tropics. 

 Common all round the coasts of Britain. FL summer, 



15. S. sylvaticus, Linn. (fig. 1106). Wood S. — Stems triangular, 2 

 or 3 feet high, with long, grass-like leaves. Spikelets ovoid, of a dark 

 shining green, not above 2 lines long, very numerous, in clusters of 2 

 or 3 together, forming a terminal, much branched, compound umbel or 

 panicle, with an involcure of 2 or 3 linear leaves. Glumes keeled and 

 pointed. Hypogynous bristles usually 6. Styles 3-cleft. 



In moist woods, and on grassy banks of rivers, throughout Europe 

 and Kussian Asia, except the extreme north, and North America. 

 Abundant in some localities, over England, Ireland, and central and 

 southern Scotland, but not generally common. FL summer. 



VII. ERIOPHORUM. COTTONSEDGE. 



Habit and character of Scripus, except that the hypogynous bristles, 

 as the flowering advances, protrude to a great length beyond the glumes, 

 forming silky-cottony tufts, which have given to these plants the name 

 of Cotton-rushes or Cotton-grass. The style is usually 3-cleft. 



A genus of few species, all bog plants, restricted to the northern 

 hemisphere, and most abundant in high latitudes or at considerable 

 elevations. 



Spikelets solitary. 

 Spikelets 2 or 3 lines long, oblong, and brown. Hypogynous 



bristles 6 to each flower 1. E. alpinum. 



Spikelets above 6 lines long, ovoid, of a dark olive-green. 



Hypogynous bristles very numerous 2. E. vaginatum. 



Spikelets several to each stem 3. E. polystachion. 



1. E. alpinum, Linn. (fig. 1107). Alpine C. — In everything but the 

 long bristles this plant precisely resembles Scirpus ecespitosus. It has 

 the same densely tufted stems, 6 to 10 inches high, with imbricate 

 sheaths at the base ; the inner ones with very short leafy tips, and 

 small, brown, solitary and terminal spikelets. After flowering the 

 hypogynous bristles, about 6 to each flower, form a silky tuft attaining 

 an inch in length. 



In bogs, in the high mountain-ranges of Europe and Kussian Asia, 

 or at high latitudes all round the Arctic circle. Formerly found in a 

 bog near Forfar, now extinct. Fl. summer. 



2. E. vaginatum, Linn. (fig. 1108). Sheathing C. — Stems tufted, 

 a foot high or more, covered at the base with a few loose ragged 

 sheaths, one or two of which bear linear, almost subulate leaves, shorter 

 than the stem, and one or two of the upper sheaths inflated, without 

 any or only a very short blade. Spikelet solitary, terminal, ovoid, 6 to 

 8 lines long, of a deep olive-green. Hypogynous bristles very numerous 



