CYPERACEAE, in botany, a family of monocotyledons. They are grass-like herbs, some times annual, but more often per sisting by means of an under ground stem, from which spring erect solitary or clustered, gen erally three-sided aerial stems, with leaves in three rows. The minute flowers are arranged in spikelets somewhat as in grasses, and these again in larger spike like or panicled inflorescences. The flower has in rare cases a perianth of six scale-like leaves arranged in two whorls, and thus conforming to the common monocotyledonous type of flower. Generally the perianth is represented by hairs, bristles or similar developments, often indefinite in number; in the two largest gen era, Cyperus, and Carex the flowers are naked. In a few cases there are two whorls of stamens, with three members in each ; but generally only three are present; the pistil consists of two or three carpels, united to form an ovary bearing a corresponding number of styles and containing one ovule. The flowers, often unisexual, are wind-pollinated. The fruit is one-seeded, with a tough, leathery or hard wall. There are 85 genera containing about 3, 20o species and widely distributed throughout the earth, chiefly as marsh-plants. In the arctic zone they form i o% of the flora. They will flourish in soils rich in humus which are too acid to support grasses. The large genus Cyperus contains about 600 species, chiefly in the warmer parts of the earth ; C. papyrus is the Egyptian papyrus. Care; the largest genus of the order, the sedges, is widely distributed in the temperate, alpine and arctic regions of both hemispheres containing over r,000 species. It is represented by 6o species in Britain, and by over zoo species in North America. Carex arenaria, the sea-bent, grows on sand dunes and helps to bind the sand with its long cord-like under ground stem which branches widely. Scirpus lacustris, the common bulrush, occurs in lakes, ditches and marshes ; it has a spongy, green, cylindrical stem, reaching nearly an inch in thickness and I to 8ft. high, which is usually leafless with a terminal branched inflorescence. Eriophorum, cotton grass, is represented in Britain by several species in boggy land. They are small tufted herbs with cottony heads due to the numerous hair-like bristles which take the place of the perianth and become much elongated in the fruiting stage.
In North America, some species of Carex grow on dry land, but the largest ones occur in low grounds. They cover great areas of marsh land in the Upper Mississippi region, and are employed in the manufacture of "grass carpets." in English law, a principle adopted by the court of chancery in dealing with trusts for charitable purposes. When the charitable purpose intended by a testator cannot be carried into effect, but the general charitable intent is clear, the court will apply the funds to some other purpose, as near the original as possible (whence the name).
In the United States, charitable trusts have become more fre quent as the wealth of the country has progressed, and are re garded with increasing favour by the courts. The cy-pres doctrine has been either expressly or virtually applied to uphold them in several of the States, and in some there has been legislation in the same direction. In others the doctrine has been repudiated; e.g., in Michigan, Tennessee, Indiana and Virginia. For many years the New York courts held that this doctrine was not in force there, but in 1893 the legislature repealed the provisions of the revised statutes on which these decisions rested and restored the ancient law. Statutes passed in Pennsylvania have established the doctrine there, and dissolved any doubt as to its being in force in that State.