924 
_any one popular epithet than sedginess. 
a ENTS 
CYPERUS. 
tanists Beckmannia eruceeformis—is a native of 
continental Europe, and was introduced to Bri- 
tain about 70 years ago. It is an annual, grows 
to the height of 2 or 23 feet, and flowers in July. 
It thrives best on deep rich loam. An acre of it, 
in the Woburn experiments, yielded, when in 
flower, 6,806 lbs. of green produce, and 366 lbs. 
of nutritive matter—The blue species, Cynosu- 
rus coeruleus, now called by some botanists Sesle- 
via cerulea, is perennial-rooted, and grows wild 
in the fields of Britain. It occurs principally on 
lofty limestone grounds, and seldom has a height 
of more than 12 or 14 inches. It is an early 
spring grass, and resists the withering effects of 
summer droughts; and, on these accounts, it is 
well fitted for upland sheep pasture.—Several 
species are now. assigned to other genera; and 
seven or eight known exotic species have not 
been introduced to Britain. 
CYPERUS. A very large genus of herbaceous 
plants, constituting the type of the natural or- 
der Cyperaceze. This order occupies an inter- 
| mediate place between the grasses and the rush- 
es, and cannot be more correctly designated by 
Some 
of the cyperaceze have a rush-like appearance ; 
others are altogether sedges; and others have 
an intermediate character. All differ from the 
grasses in the mode of developing their gluma- 
ceous flowers, in having the sheath which envel- 
opes the lower part of the leaves closed up, and 
in possessing comparatively trifling value either 
as herbage or for economical adaptations. They 
possess trivial interest to the farmer, only occa- 
sional interest to the economist, and no interest 
whatever to the florist or the landscape gardener. 
A few are medicinal; two or three are esculent ; 
and some serve for mattings, thatchings, and 
similar purposes; but the enormous majority are 
sheer, vile weeds, evoking the enterprise and in- 
dustry of man for their extirpation, or serving at 
best to impart a hue of verdure to some barren 
marshy tracts where no better green thing will 
grow. About 300 species are either indigenous 
in Britain, or have been introduced from foreign 
countries, into our botanical collections, as curi- 
osities; and all these are distributed into 25 
genera, the chief or most interesting of which 
are cyperus, carex, papyrus, and eriophorum. 
The genus Cyperus has entire-sheathed leaves, 
_ two-rowed imbricated spikelets, and a deciduous 
style. It comprises two indigenous species, about 
50 introduced exotic species, and about 250 un- 
introduced known exotic species——The long cy- 
perus, C. longus, grows wild in the marshes of 
England, but is not common. Its root is peren- 
nial, long, somewhat creeping, and very aromatic 
_ and astringent; its stem is green, principally 
bare, and about 3 feet high; its radical leaves 
are grass-like, bright green, narrow, and about a 
foot in length; and its flowers have a brown 
colour, are produced from among two or three 
small leaves at the top of the stem, and appear 
CYPRESS. 
in July.— The brown species, C. fuscus, also 
inhabits English marshes, but is merely an- 
nual, Its root is simply and numerously fibrous; 
and its stem attains a height of only 6 or 7 
inches. | 
The esculent-rooted species, or rush-nut sedge, 
C. esculentus, is a native of the south of Europe, 
and was introduced to Britain near the close of 
the 16th century. Its roots are tuberous and | 
about the size of pease, and, when eaten raw, 
have a taste somewhat similar to that of filberts, 
but are somewhat sweeter and more heating; its 
stems have a height of only 12 or 14 inches; and 
its spikelets are elongated, pointed, and rather 
distant. It grows readily on moist, light, rich 
soils; and is cultivated in the south of .Hurope 
for the sake of its tubers, which are eaten both 
raw and boiled.—Another esculent and tuberous- 
rooted species, C. geminatus, was discovered, in 
the southern part of continental India, by the 
late Dr. James Anderson, and was recommended 
by him to the notice of Europeans as a plant 
which might probably prove of considerable 
value. It grows in sandy and somewhat arid 
situations near the sea; it is the common food 
of the natives of some parts of the south of India, 
during seasons of scarcity; and it yields a plea- 
sant and nutritious farina, which makes a pud- 
ding of taste and flavour somewhat similar to 
one made of sago. 
The root of the rush-leaved species, C. junct- 
folius, is fibrous, with small bulbous extremities, 
and is used in the form of decoction, in India, as 
a gentle diaphoretic and diuretic, and as a remedy, 
for fevers and for tendency to dropsy.—The per- 
ennial hairy portion of the lower part of the 
stem of O. stoloniferus, is, in India, dried, and 
combined with certain oils into a fragrant lini- 
ment for the head, or reduced to powder and 
given internally as a purifier of the blood—The 
stems of the mat-rush, C. textilis, are a chief 
material of the common floor-mats of India.— 
But no one of the four species which we have 
named as possessing economical value in India, 
seems to have been introduced to Britain. 
CYPRESS,—hbotanically Cupressus. A genus 
of trees, constituting the type of the suborder 
Cupressinz, in the Coniferous order. This sub- 
order comprises the genera cupressus, Juniperus, 
thuja, callitris, and dacrydium ; and has at pre- 
sent, within Great Britain, about forty species, 
—all ligneous evergreens, most of them sombrely 
ornamental, and a considerable proportion tall, 
imposing, solemn - looking timber - trees. The 
genus cupressus comprises twelve known species; 
three of which have been long cultivated in Great 
Britain, and five introduced since the commence- 
ment of the present century. It belongs to the 
class Moncecia, and the order Monadelphia of 
Linnzeus. Its male inflorescence is an imbricated 
catkin, with one-scaled calyx, and four sessile, 
afilamentous anthers; and its female inflorescence 
is a subconical catkin, changing to a strobile, with 
