SEDGE FAMILY. 



359 



mostly 3. Ovary l-celled, with a single erect ovule, becoming in fruit an akene, which is 

 lenticular when the style is 2-cleft, and triangular when it is 3-cleft. Embryo minute at 

 the base of farinaceous albumen. 



An Order of some 50 genera, remarkable for their worthlessness ; and also for their 

 presence, or prevalence, at least, being an indication of swampy, neglected, or valueless 

 land. The herbage of this Order, unhke that of a large number of the Graminese, or 

 true Grasses, contains but httle saccharine matter ; and therefore is neither nutritious nor 

 palatable to stock. 



An example is given of three of the genera, selecting such as are likely to attract the no- 

 tice of the farmer. They are favorite plants with the Botanist, and those who have a 

 curiosity to know more of them will find them described in the Floras. 

 Flowers perfect, 2-ranked : spikes few -many-flowered. 



Perianth none. 1. Ctfekus. 



Flowers perfect, scales imbricated in several ranks. 



Perianth of 3 - 6 bristles. Achenium pointed with the continuous base 



of the style. 2. Sorpus. 



Flowers monoecious in the same or separate spikes (sometimes dioeci- 

 ous). Achenium enclosed in a sac, lenticular or triangular. 3. Carex. 



1. CYPE'RUS, L. Galixgale. 



a [An ancient Greek name, — of uncertain etymolog.y,] 



Spikelets many-flowered, or rarely few-jflowered. Scales disticliously im- 

 bricated, — the lowest ones empty and sometimes smaller. Perianth none 

 of any kind. Stamens 2 or 3. Styles 3 (rarely 2.) united below into one, 

 deciduous. Akene crustaceous, triquetrous or compressed. Perennial 

 herbs. Culms simple, often triquetrous, leafy and sheathed at base. Leaves 

 grass-like. Spikelets in loose spikes, involucrate fascicles, or umbels ; pe- 

 duncles unequal, sheathed at base. 



1. C. Strigo'sus, L. Spikes compressed, linear awl-shaped, crowded 

 at the summit of the rays of a large open umbel ; sheaths of the pedun- 

 cles 2-bristled ; style trifid ; stamens 3 ; achenium linear-oblong. 



Strigose Cyperus. Bristle-spiked Galingale.' 



Culm 1-2 or 3 feet high, triquetrous, smooth, leafy bidow and tuberous at base. Leaves 

 rather broad, acute, keeled, nearly as long as the culm, somewhat scabrous on the mar- 

 gin. Umbel 3 -6 or 9-rayed, rather spreading ; rays unequal, 1 or 2-4 or 5 inches long, 

 triquetrous, sheathed at base, the central ones suppressed (i. e.the central spikes sessile). 

 Spikes yellowish, about three-fourths of an inch long, — the scales somewhat loosely imbri- 

 cated, striate, with a green keel and yellowish sides. Styles long, 3 united in one, distinct 

 at summit. AArme triquetrous, oblong, acute, roughish-dotted. 



Wet meadows and low grounds : throughout the United States. Fl. August. Fr. Sep- 

 tember. 



Obs. This species is inserted — not as being a particularly troublesome 

 weed, but — as one of the most conspicuous of the genus, in the swampy 

 meadows of the middle and northern States. The two which follow 

 belong rather to the Southern States, — and are there regarded as real 

 scourges by the Planters. 



2. C. phymato'des, Muhl. Root creeping, tuberiferous at the ex- 

 tremities ; umbel mostly simple, 4 - 6-rayed ; involucre about 3-leaved, 

 much longer than the rays ; spikes linear, obtuse, sub-compressed, ap- 

 proximated, somewhat spreading, each 12 - 20-flowered. 



" Nut Grass," of Florida. 



