896 



THE SEDGE FAMILY. 



4. Few-flowered Scirpus. Scirpus pauciflorus, Lightf. 

 (Pig. 1078.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 1122.) 



In appearance mucli like a starved^ 

 slender state of the last two species, 

 whilst the nut is nearer that of the 

 tufted S. Stems slender, and many of 

 them barren, not 6 inches high, the 

 sheaths without leafy tips. Spikelet 

 small, not containing above 5 or 6 flowers. 

 Hypogynous bristles, 3- cleft style, and 

 obovoid nut, as in the many -stalked S. t 

 but the thickened base of the style is 

 considerably narrower, forming a taper- 

 ing point to the nut, not a conical tu- 

 bercle. 



In wet mud, and the edges of pools, 



in northern and central Europe, and 



Russian Asia, and the mountains of 



southern Europe and the Caucasus, but 



In Britain, more frequent in Scotland, 



Fig. 1078. 



scarcely an Arctic plant 



Ireland, and northern England than in the south. Fl. summer, 



5. Tufted Scirpus. Scirpus csespitosus, Linn. (Fig. 1079.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 1029.) 



Stem 6 inches to a foot high, densely 

 tufted, covered for an inch or two at 

 their base with closely imbricated 

 sheaths, the outer ones brown, the in- 

 ner ones green, with narrow, leafy tips, 



1 to 2 lines long. Spikelets solitary and 

 terminal, ovoid, brown, scarcely above 



2 lines long ; the outer bract like the 

 glumes but larger, with an almost leafy 

 tip, about the length of the spikelet. 

 Elowers usually 6 to 8 in the spikelet. 

 Hypogynous bristles about 6. Style 3- 

 cleft, the persistent base very minute. 



In marshes and bogs, common in north- 

 ern and Arctic Europe, Asia, and Ame- 

 rica, but restricted to mountain-ranges 

 in central and southern Europe, and not 



Fig. 1079. 



