ORDER CCVIII.—RESTIACEÆ.—THE PIPEWORT TRIBE.
Rigid, inelegant, and often leafless, plants, with the habit of rushes, natives of New Holland and the Cape of Good Hope.
§ II.—Glumaceæ.
These plants, instead of having a regular calyx and corolla, have nothing but green and brown scales, which are called glumes, to cover the stamens and pistil. There are only two orders belonging to this division in British fields and gardens.
ORDER CCIX.—CYPERACEÆ.—THE SEDGE TRIBE.
These plants have solid stems, and the leaves not only sheathe the stem, but grow together round it, so as to form a kind of tube. The flowers are arranged in heads, some of which contain only male flowers, each of which consists of a membranous scale and three stamens, and others contain only female flowers. In the genus Carex, the Sedge, these flowers are each enclosed in a kind of bottle formed by two scales growing together, and opening at the top into two parts so as to show three stigmas, which have only a single style. The fruit is a dry, hard, triangular capsule with only one seed. The most remarkable genera are Papyrus, the plant anciently used for paper; Scirpus, the Club-rush, used for making the seats of chairs, mats, &c.; Eriophorum, Cotton-grass; and Cyperus.