SEDGE FAMILY. 



363 



long, foliaceous ; fruit densely crowded, ovoid, ventricose, nerved, long- 

 beaked, about twice as long as the lance-linear awned scale ; the beak 

 with short, minutely serrulate teeth. 



Tentaculate or many-beaked Carex. 



• Whole plant yellowish-groen. Culm 12-18 inches high, triquetrous, scabrous on the 

 angles above, leafy. Leaves linear-lanceolate, nerved, scabrous on the margin, longer 

 than the culm. Staminate spike about an inch long, with a narrow lance-hnear bract at 

 base longer than the spike ; glumes lance-linear, terminated by a long scabrous awn. Pis- 

 tillate spikes commonly 2-3 (often but 1 — rarely 4), about an inch or an inch and a half 

 long, — the upper ones approximate, sessile — the lowest one a little distant on a short 

 scarcely exserted peduncle ; glumes terminated by a long setaceous scabrous awn. Bracts 

 resembling the leaves, very long. F)~uit ovoid, inflated, spreading, smooth and shining, at- 

 tenuated into a long straight slender beak. Akene triquetrous, roughish puncticulate. 

 Swampy low grounds. J^L JIay-June. i^r. August. 



Obs. This is a very common species, in the swampy meadows of Penn- 

 sylvania,— and probably throughout the greater portion of the United 

 States. 



ff Staminate spikes mostly 2 or more. Stigmas 2. 



3. C. Stric'ta, Lam. Staminate spikes 1-3 ; pistillate spikes usually 

 2 or 3, rather distant, cyliiidric, subsessile, often staminate at summit ; 

 fruit compressed, ovate, with a very short beak and the orifice entire, 

 about as long as the oblong-lanceolate awnless scale. 



Upright Carex. Tussock-sedge. 



Culm^ 1-2 feet high, very slender and acutely triquetrous, striate, minutely serrulate 

 on the angles, leafy at base, — usually growing in large dense tnfts, or ttissocks. Leaves 

 narrow, linear, keeled, scabrous on the margin, often longer than the culm, — the radical 

 ones very numerous and loosely spreading, forming a large tuft of a lively bluish-green. 

 Staminate spikes 2-3 (often solitary), erect, sessile except the uppermost one ; glumes 

 oblong, mostly obtuse. Pistillate spikes 3 (or often but 2) , 1-2 inches long, rather slen- 

 der, — the lowest one on a very short peduncle — the upper one sessile, and often staminate 

 at summit (androgynous) ; glumes brown, with a green keel. Fmit ovate, elliptic, or 

 obovate, smooth. Akenes obovate, mucronate, puncticulate. 



Swamps : throughout the United States. Fl. April. Fr. June. 



Obs. It is the most common, and most troublesome, of all the species. 

 It is true, that a pedestrian, in crossing neglected boggy meadows, finds 

 its dense tufts quite a convenience, to step on, — yet it is decidedly more 

 farmer-like to provide good walking, in such places, by ditching and 

 draining. The tussocks, formed by the matted fibrous roots, of this 

 species of Carex, are often very large, and very durable. I once hauled 

 a quantity of them into the barn-yard, with a hope that they might de- 

 compose, and make manure ; but they effectually resisted decomposition, 

 and were tossed about the yard for years, — as large, and almost as inde- 

 structible, as so many hatters' blocks. The best way to dispose of 

 them, is to collect them — when cut out and dried — into a heap, and burn 

 them, — taking care afterwards, by appropriate draining, to prevent the 

 growth of others. 



