The pretty little Bog Asphodel (_Narthecium ossifragum_) shall first receive our attention because botanists are not yet in agreement as to its correct position among the monocotyledonous plants. It is certainly allied to the rushes, but on account of its larger and more succulent flowers it is often included among the lilies. It has a creeping rootstock, and stiff, erect stems from six to ten inches high. Its bright yellow, starlike flowers form a stiff, terminal raceme, with a bract at the base, and another one above the middle of each pedicel. The segments of the perianth are about a third of an inch long, yellow above and greenish below. The stamens are a little shorter than the perianth segments; and their filaments are clothed with white woolly hairs. This plant is common on wet moors and in mountain bogs, flowering from June to August. [Illustration: THE COMMON RUSH.] The Common Rush (_Juncus communis_) is a very abundant species, to be found in almost all wet and marshy places, flowering during July and August. Its stems are round, leafless, soft, faintly furrowed, solid, with a continuous pith. They are from one to three feet high, and are sheathed at the base by a few brownish scales, but the plant has no true leaves. Most of the stems bear a panicled cluster of green or brown flowers about six inches from the top. These panicles are very variable in form and size, being either loose or dense, and varying from one to three inches in diameter. The Hard Rush (_Juncus glaucus_) is a very similar plant, flowering at the same time; but its stem is slender, rigid, deeply furrowed, with the pith interrupted by air spaces. It is generally from one to two feet high; and, like the last species, has no true leaves. The panicle is looser than that of _J. communis_, with fewer and larger flowers; and it is never more than two or three inches below the top of the stem. A few of the Rushes form a group known collectively as the Jointed Rushes, because their cylindrical or slightly-flattened, hollow leaves are divided within by transverse partitions of pith which give them a jointed appearance, especially when they are dried. Two or three of the species referred to are very common in wet places. They are very similar in general appearance, and one of them--the Shining-fruited Jointed Rush (_Juncus lamprocarpus_) is selected for illustration. Another species is the little pale-coloured Toad Rush (_J. bufonis_), which grows to a height of only a few inches. It has tufted stems that branch from near the base; and its flowers are either solitary or in clusters of two or three. As regards the Sedges (order _Cyperaceæ_), the species are so numerous that it is impossible to do them justice in a work of this nature. [Illustration: THE SHINING-FRUITED JOINTED RUSH.]