MONOCOTYLEDONS WITH GLUMACEOUS FLOWERS. 
Natural Order 
CYPERAC EM. Tab. 99, 100. 
Diagnosis.— Herbs with narrow grass-like sheathing radical leaves with 
closed sheaths. Flowers spicate or capitate; perfect with hypogynous 
stamens, or unisexual; naked or perianth reduced to bristles; each flower 
in the axil of a single scaly bract. Embryo at the base of copious albumen. 
Distribution. —A very large Natural Order, generally dispersed over the Globe from the 
Equator to the limits of vegetation, both in latitude and altitude. Most of the species affect moist 
situations. Of the two largest genera, one (Carex), represented by about 50 species in Britain, 
decreases from the Arctic zone southward, while the second ( Cyperus ), represented in Britain by two 
rare and local species, is most abundant in Tropical and Subtropical countries. 
Number of British Genera, 9; Species, 92. 
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