Order 2. =Cyperaceæ.= The majority are _perennial_ (seldom annual) _herbs_ living in damp situations, with a sympodial rhizome and grass-like appearance. The stems are seldom hollow, or have swollen nodes, but generally _triangular_, with the upper internode just below the inflorescence generally very long. The leaves are often arranged in 3 _rows_, the leaf-sheath is _closed_ (very seldom split), and the ligule is absent or insignificant. The flowers are arranged in _spikes_ (_spikelets_) which may be united into other forms of inflorescences (chiefly spikes or racemes). The flowers are supported by a bract, but have _no bracteoles_. In some genera the perianth is distinctly represented by six bristles corresponding to six leaves (Figs. 284 _A_, 286 _A_); in others it is represented by an indefinite number of hairs (Fig. 284 _B_), and very frequently it is altogether wanting. _The inner whorl of stamens is absent_, and the flower has therefore 3 stamens (rarely more or less than 3), the anthers _are attached by their bases to the filament_ (innate) and are not bifid (Figs. 286). Gynœceum simple, formed of 3 or 2 carpels; 1 style, which is divided at the extremity, as in the Juncaceæ, into 3 or 2 arms; the single loculus of the ovary contains one basal, erect, anatropous ovule; the stigmas are not feather-like. _Fruit a nut_, whose seed is generally not united with the pericarp. The embryo is small, and lies at the _base of the seed in the central line_, surrounded on the inner side by the endosperm (Fig. 286 _B_). On germination the cotyledon _does not remain_ in the seed. [Illustration: FIG. 284.--Diagram of structure of: _A Scirpus silvaticus_; _B Eriophorum angustifolium_.] A regular perianth, with 6 scale-like perianth-leaves in 2 whorls, is found in _Oreobolus_. In _Scirpus littoralis_ the perianth-leaves are spreading at the apex, and divided pinnately. The branching of the inflorescence is often the same as in the Juncaceæ, and supports the theory that these two orders are related. In _Rhynchospora_ and others, the “spikelets” are really only “spike-like” and to some extent compound. =A.= SCIRPEÆ. HERMAPHRODITE FLOWERS. 1. Spikelets cylindrical, the bracts arranged spirally (in many rows). The lower ones are often barren, each of the others supports a flower.--_Scirpus_ (Club-rush). The spikelets are many-flowered; the perianth is bristle-like or absent, and does not continue to grow during the ripening of the fruit (Fig. 286 _A_). Closely allied to this is _Heleocharis_, with terminal spikes.--_Eriophorum_ (Cotton-grass) differs chiefly in having the perianth-hairs prolonged, and forming a bunch of white, woolly hairs (Fig. 284 _B_).