536 
CYPERACEJE. (SEDGE FAMILY.) 
Scales of the spikes 1-flowered, equally imbricated around the axis. 
Stamens 3, rarely 2. Ovary inclosed in an inflated sac (compos¬ 
ed of two inner scales (hractlets) united at their margins), form¬ 
ing a rounded or angular bladdery fruit ( perigynium ), contracted 
towards the apex, inclosing the lenticular, plano-convex, or trian¬ 
gular achenium, which is crowned with more or less of the persist¬ 
ent (rarely jointed) base of the style. Stigmas 2-3, long, pro¬ 
jecting from the orifice of the perigynium. — Perennial herbs, chiefly 
flowering in April or May, frequently growing in watery places, 
often in dense tufts. Culms triangular, bearing the spikes in the 
axils of green and leaf-like or scale-like bracts; commonly with 
thin membranaceous sheaths at the base which inclose more or less 
of the stalks of the spikes. Leaves grassy, usually rough on the 
margins and keel. (A classical name, of obscure signification; 
derived by some from careo , to want, the upper spikes being most 
frequently sterile ; and by others from /cei'pco, to cut , on account of 
the sharp leaves.) 
ABRIDGED SYNOPSIS OF THE SECTIONS. 
A. Spike solitary, simple, dioecious or androgynous : bracts small, colored and scale¬ 
like. — P s yllophor®, Loisel.* 
§ 1. Spike dioecious, or with a fewstaminate flowers at the base. —Nos. 1-3. 
2. Spike androgynous, staminate at the summit. — Nos. 4-6. 
B. Spike solitary, single, androgynous, staminate at the summit: bracts and scales 
of the fertile flowers green and leaf-like. Stigmas 3. — Phyllostachys, Torr. 
Gr. — Nos. 7-9. 
C. Spikes several or numerous, androgynous (occasionally dioecious in Nos. 10 and 
33), sessile, forming compact, or more or less interrupted, sometimes panicu¬ 
late. compound or decompound spikes. Stigmas 2. — Vignea, Beauv. 
5 1. Spikes approximate, with staminate and pistillate flowers variously situated. 
— Nos. 10-12. 
2. Spikes pistillate below, staminate at the summit. —Nos. 13-28. 
3. Spikes pistillate above, staminate at the base. — Nos. 29-41. 
D. Staminate and pistillate flowers borne in separate (commonly more or less stalk¬ 
ed) simple spikes on the same culm ; the one or more staminate (sterile) spikes 
constantly uppermost, having occasionally more or less fertile flowers inter¬ 
mixed ; the lower spikes all pistillate (fertile) or sometimes with staminate 
flowers at the base or apex. Stigmas 3 (or only 2 in Nos. 42 -49 and No. 66). 
— Carex proper. 
* Perigynia with merely a minute or short point, not prolonged into a beak. 
§ 1. Perigynia not inflated (slighly in No. 49), smooth, nerved or nerveless, with 
a minute straight point; glaucous-green, becoming whitish, or more or less 
spotted or tinged with purple. Scales blackish-purple or brown. Staminate 
* This division, retained for the convenience of students, is merely artificial, and 
combines species having no real natural affinity. 
