Tawny Sedge (Carex Fulva, Host = C. Horn-Schuchiana, Hoppe = C. Horteatia, D.C.)

The habitat of this plant is marshes and boggy places. The plant has the sedge habit. The rootstock is often creeping. The stem is 3-angled, with a rough edge. The leaves are flat, broad. The bracts are long, sheathing, not so long as the stem. The fertile spikelets are 2-3, egg-shaped, oblong, distant, the stalks longer than the sheaths. The glumes are blunt or acute, not blunt-pointed, the tips with membranous margin. The fruit is egg-shaped, 3-sided, with a rough edge, membranous, in the notch, broad below, not dotted, ribbed. The nut is inversely egg-shaped, 3-angled, more or less smooth. The plant is 1- 1 1/2 ft. high, flowering between May and July, and is a herbaceous perennial.

Bladder-Fruited Sedge (Carex Vesicaria, L.)

The habitat of this plant is wet bogs, marshy places. The plant has the sedge habit. The root-stock is tufted, creeping. The plant is stout. The stems are triangular, rough at the top, with acute angles. The leaves are broad, green, flat, soft, the edges of the sheaths filamentous. The bracts are leaflike. The spikelets are cylindrical, many, stout, the male 2-3, slender, pale-brown, sometimes with female above, the fertile spikelets 2-4, distant, cylindrical, pale, shortly-stalked, inclined or drooping. The glumes are lance-shaped, rather acute, with membranous margin, smaller than the fruit, narrow, chestnut-brown, with a pale midrib, blunt, those of the male spikelets linear to oblong. The fruit is large, spreading, conical to egg-shaped, inflated, ribbed, 3-angled, pale, dull-yellow, shining, with faint nerves, narrowed to the beak, which is awl-like, divided into 2 nearly to the base. The beak is stout, smooth, rigid, brown, long, slender. The nut is inversely egg-shaped, broadly elliptical, 3-angled, pale, with a long beak. The plant is 1-2 ft. high, flowering in May and June, and is a herbaceous perennial.

Bottle-Fruited Sedge (Carex Ampullacea, Good. = C. Inflata, Huds. = C. Rostrata, Stokes)

The habitat of this plant is wet bogs and marshes. The plant has the sedge habit. The rootstock is tufted and creeping. The stems are 3-angled, smooth, the angles blunt. The leaves are channelled, bluish-green, the margins rolled back. The fertile spikelets are pale, stout, cylindrical, 2-4 distant, erect, stalked or stalkless, inclined or spreading, dense. The male spikelets are 2-3, slender, with sometimes female at the base. The bracts are leaflike without a sheath, longer than the stem. The glumes are lance-shaped, inversely egg-shaped, with membranous tip. The fruit is spreading, egg-shaped, rounded, suddenly narrowed into a long, slender beak, pale-yellowish-green, swollen, ribbed, shining, as broad as long, 3-sided, horizontal or bent-down when ripe, narrowed into a long beak. The nut is inversely egg-shaped, triangular, yellow. The plant is 1-2 ft. high, flowering in May and June, and is a herbaceous perennial.

Russet Sedge (Carex Saxatilis, L. = C. Pulla, Good.)

The habitat of this plant is damp places on Scotch mountains. The plant has the sedge habit. The stems are short. There is 1 male spikelet or 2. The fertile spikelets are 1-3, egg-shaped, very dark, round to egg-shaped, the lower stalked, with bracts without sheaths, erect, black or dark-brown. The glumes are blunt, dark-purple, with white tips, the midrib dark-purple. The fruit is egg-shaped, with faint (or no) ribs, inflated, dark-purple, paler below, longer than the glumes, stalked. The beak is short, notched. The nut is round, blunt-pointed. There are 2 stigmas. The plant is 4-10 in. high, flowering in May and June, and is a herbaceous perennial.