Carex.

CAREX, L. Sedge. A tribe of grasses rather than genus: nearly 150 species lately ascertained with us, by Schweinitz, Torrey, Dewey, and myself. Not much liked by cattle: the large kinds make a rough kind of hay; those of salt marshes rather better owing to the salt taste; useful to consolidate marshes and sands. Those with odorous roots are medical, like C. arenaria of Europe, edible, stomachic, diuretic, equivalent of sarsaparilla, gayac and Dactylon.

Medical Flora, or Manual of the Medical Botany of the United States of North America, Vol. 2, 1830, was written by C. S. Rafinesque.