362 



WEEDS AND USEFUL PLANTS. 



beaked and inflated) sac or peri gyniim. Akene lenticular or triquetrous 

 faccording as the stigmas are 2 or 3), more or less beaked with the base 

 of the style. Perennial herbs with usually Ccespitose cuhns which are tri- 

 angular, often nodose and leafy. Spikes terminal and axillary, mostly 

 bracted at base. 



Obs. The three species here described, are inserted merely as samples 

 of a very extensive genus of unprofitable plants, — of which every intelli- 

 gent farmer would like to know something. Those who may desire to 

 become better acquainted with the family, will find the species well de- 

 scribed, in various Monographs and Floras. 



* Spikes all androgynous. 



f Spikes clustered, staminate at their summit. Stigmas 2. 



1, C. vulpinoi'dea, Muhl. Spike oblong, decompound, interrnpted, 

 bracteate, — of 8-10 crowded clusters; fruit compressed, ovate, acumi- 

 nate, 3-nerved, scabrous on the margin, finally diverging, rather shorter 

 than the ovate cuspidate scale. 



YuLPiNA-LiKE Carex. Scdgc. Sedgc-grass. 



Culm about 2 feet high, obtusely triangular aud leafy at base, acutely triquetrous above. 

 Leaves lance-huear, channelled above, scabrous on the margin, — the upper ones over- 

 topping the culm ; sheaths transversely rugose on the side opposite the leaves. Spike 2-3 

 inches long, formed of numerous spikelets which are crowded into clusters a httle sepa- 

 rated from each other, and either appressed to the rachis or diverging. Bracts at the base 

 of the compound spike, and also of the principal clusters, often long and foliaceor.s, — 

 those at the base of the spikelets, short, setaceous and scabrous. Staminate glumes lan- 

 ceolate, with a short point. Pistillate glumes ovate, with a long serrulate point. Fruit 

 3-nerved, bifid at apex, rather small, densely crowded, finally much diverging, and yel- 

 lowish. 



Swamps and low grounds : Northern and Middle States. Fl. May. Fr. July. 



Obs. This, like all the other species of this very numerous genus 

 (amounting to some 300 or more), is a very worthless plant ; and is often 

 quite abundant in wet meadows. The form of the akenes, in Carex — - 

 like those of Polygonum, already noticed— has a constant relation to 

 the number of styles or stigmas. When the stigmas (or stigmatose 

 branches) are 2, the akene is compressed, and ancipital or 2-edged ; but 

 when there are 3 stigmas, the akene is uniformly triquetrous. A similar 

 relation, between the form of the akene or nut, and the number of the 

 styles or stigmas, appears to exist in numerous other instances, — as in 

 Rumex, Rheum, Scirpus, Cyperus, Fagus, Morus, Alnus, Betula, &c., 

 &c., and the law may, perhaps, be general. 



Staminate and pistillate spikes, distinct. 

 \ Staminate spike solitary : pistillate suhsessile. Stigmas 3. 



2. C. tentacula'ta, Muhl. Staminate spike bracteate, on a short pe- 

 duncle ; pistillate spikes about 3, cylindric-oblong, approximate, hori- 

 zontal, the uppermost sessile, the lower on short exserted stalks ; bracts 



