on the Britifo Species of Carex, — 131 
the former order will be found moft frequently to have two, as is 
the cafe particularly with //r/Zavand filiformis. 
. The fhape of the fpikes is worth attending to. Obferving C. pilus 
lifera with round female fpikes, we in moft ftages of growth can 
leparate it from C. $recox : fhould any doubt be ftill entertained, 
as may happen in their infancy, the thin male {pike of pilulifera 
will make an appearance quite different from the obovate or rather 
club-fhaped one of $r«cox. The filiform flender female fpikes of 
C. acuta make us wonder how it ever could be claffed with the cor- 
` pulency of C. riparia. 
. The fhape of the glumz, or, as they are often called, fquamæ, 
affords, in many inftances, a very characteriftic mark, in none more 
{fo than in C. rigida. 
The pendulofity of the fpikes is alfo an interefting circum- 
ftance, However, in the judging of this circumftance, the ftate 
of the fructification muft be confidered: for many whofe {pikes 
are defcribed to be pendulous, betray that circumftance only in the 
advanced ftate of fruétification, as C. recurva: fome only in the 
early and not in the riper age, as is frequently the cafe with 
C. acuta. 
As Linnaeus founded his fyftem upon the parts of fruétification, 
it may feem ftrange that he was not more particular in noting the 
variation of the number of the fligmata. Perhaps his defcribing 
from dried and imperfeét fpecimens occafionally prevented him 
from examining into this circumftance. Thus, C. rigida is readily 
difcriminated from frecox by its having only two ftigmata. The 
digynous appearance in the flowers of acuta, is its primary mark of 
feparation from C. paludofa. :1 mult obferve, when Linueus dee 
Ícribed his c«/pito/a in the FI. Suecica, he referred to a plant.in Scheu- 
ebzer, which had three ftigmata. He excluded this fynonym after- 
wards in his fecond edition of S5. Plant. 
In all plants the fruit is a leading circumftance. The capfule, 
S 2 or, 
