flowers terminal and lateral; stem far more triangular, with long
leaves, rough on the margin ; in bogs. Plainfield ; found by Dr.
Porter.
S. debilis. Pursh and Muhl. Grows along streams and in
ponds, 1 - 2 feet high, in tufts, without leaves, and its flowers
projecting some distance from the upper extremity ; Amherst,
Boston, and Berkshire County.
5. lacustris, L. and Muhl., and /S. acutus, Muhl., are large
plants, and, if different, much alike; 3 - 6 feet high, round,
tapering, rising out of ponds and lakes, often where the water is
several feet deep ; largest of the rushes ; the former called in
England bulrush; used for making mats, for bottoms of chairs,
for a covering to floors, and for thatching ; stem full of pith, and
bearing flowers near its upper extremity.
S. palustris. L . and Muhl. Grows in swamps and wet
places, variable stem, often 2 feet high, large or small; common
also in Europe.
$. olivaceus. A new species, named by Dr. Torrey, Eleo-
charis olivacea, Tor. “ Mon. Cyp.” p. 300, and “ nearly allied”
to the preceding ; found in wet places of sandy soil, and usually
partly in the water, about a span high, often less, in dense tufts ;
pond in Tewksbury. B. D. Greene.
S cleria. Gaertner. 19. 3.
Monoecious ; glumes 2 - 6 , and in the barren flower the palese
are unarmed, and in the fertile are none ; stigmas 1 - 3 ; nut
colored. From the Greek for rough.
S. triglomerata. Mx. Whip Grass. Three to four feet
high, 3-sided and rough, with almost winged angles, and leaves
about one third of an inch wide ; flowers on the side and at the
termination ; in swamps and low grounds ; Hadley.
Carex. L. 19. 3. Sedge Grass.
From the Latin to leant, because the upper flowers or spikes
are so often destitute of seeds. The flowers are divided into barren
and fertile, usually on the same plant, often on the same
spikelet, and often on separate spikes.
This is a very extensive genus., a host by itself. One hundred
and sixty-four species, besides many varieties, and the union of
several heretofore considered distinct, are credited to North
America in the “ Mon. Cyp.” by Dr. Torrey. Eighty-six
species are enumerated in the “ Geology,” as found in this State, a
number probably not too large. It is everywhere a coarse grass,
and some are very coarse and rough. In the young state, most
of the species are eaten by cattle, and many are made into coarse
hay mingled with the proper grasses, while none are cultivated for
that purpose. The species are found in all situations ; some delight
in cold and Alpine districts, and some in the warm soil of
valleys ; some never leave the woods, some seem to dwell in rich
cultivated fields, and some flourish as the borderers between these
two ; some, as C. arenaria, grow only on sand, and become of
great use in fixing the movable sands ; some never forsake marshes
and fens, ponds and pools. The flowers are without beauty, in
rather close masses and spikes, with the fertile flowers in various
positions, often at considerable distance, at least from the sterile
ones. The seed is entirely enveloped in a loose, strong covering,
chaff-like, but without divisions, and which falls off with it.
The plants vary in size, from an inch or two in height, to 1 — 3
feet, and sometimes 8 feet high ; but the seed or nut does not
vary in proportion, and is always small ; in some species it is
flatfish, or lens-like, and in others triangular or 3-sided.
Glumes single, 1-flowered, arranged in a close spike, or ament,
usually monoecious, with a persistent and 1-vklved perianth inclosing
the coriaceous nut or seed.
Botanists differ somewhat in the number of the species of this
genus.
Some of the species have 2 stigmas, or a biparted stigma, and
others 3, or a 3-parted one ; and this fact forms a very natural