Rush-like bog perennials with creeping rootstocks, and erect leafy stems, the leaves elongated, half-rounded below and flat above, striate, furnished with a pore at the apex and a membranous ligulate sheath at the base. Flowers small, racemose. Perianth 6-parted, regularly 2-serial, persistent. Stamens 6, inserted at the base of the perianth-segments; filaments elongated; anthers linear, basifixed, extrorse. Ovaries 3 or rarely 4-6, distinct or connate at the base, 1-celled, each cell with 1 or 2 collateral ovules. Stigmas sessile, papillose or slightly fimbriate. Carpels divergent, inflated, coriaceous, 1-2-seeded, follicle-like, laterally dehiscent. Seeds straight or slightly curved, without endosperm. [Name in honor of Johann Jacob Scheuchzer, 1672-1733, Swiss scientist.]

A monotypic genus of the north temperate zone.

1. Scheuchzeria Palustris L

Fig. 220

Schcuchzeria palustris L. Sp. PI. 338. 1753.

Leaves 4'-16' long, the uppermost reduced to bracts; stems solitary or several, usually clothed at the base with the remains of old leaves, 4'-10' tall; sheaths of the basal leaves often 4' long with a ligule 1/2' long; pedicels 3"-10" long, spreading in fruit; flowers white, few, in a lax raceme; perianth-segments membranous, 1-nerved, 1 1/2" long, the inner ones the narrower; follicles 2"-4" long, slightly if at all united" at the base; seeds oval, brown, 2 1/2"-3" long with a very hard coat.

In bogs, Labrador to Hudson Bay and British Columbia, south to New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and California. Also in Europe and Asia. Summer.