on tbe Britifb Species of Cares. 147 
Ts never diftich, the fpiculæ are never oblong or contiguous. Hence 
has arifen frequent error: Mr. Lightfoot, amongft the reft, rejected 
the idea of this being brizoides, and called it canefcens. 
But the C. canefcens of Linnæus is fimilar in fhape to curta; fo 
much fo, that the figure in Loe/z/ is as applicable almoft to the one 
as the other: but when they are brought together, the wideft dif- 
ference prefents itfelf. The curta is fmaller in all its parts; then 
_the fquamz are filvery, and very tender: in the cazefcens they are 
membranaceous and hard, as in the reft of the genus, and are brown 
with a white edge, which gives it a real hoary appearance. We 
may gather from this circumftance, how neceffary coloured figures 
are to mark the nicety of diftinétion requifite to afcertain fome 
fpecies in natural hiftory. It is true, it makes the ftudy very ex- 
penfive; but it muft be allowed, that unlefs very accurate de- 
fcriptions accompany the uncoloured print, a difficulty of afcertain- 
ment may after all fubfift. 
The cap/ules, together with the /quamæ of this fpecies, are very 
early deciduous: I know not any Carex in which this impoverifh- 
ment takes place fo early, except in C. //riiz. The whitenefs and 
tendernefs of the fquamz in this fpecies are ftriking circumftances. 
Thefe qualities are not to be found in any other. The root, though 
it cannot be called directly creeping, has a tendency to increafe 
itfelf fomething in that way. The brizoides of Sir Fofeph Bank's 
herbarium has evidently a creeping root. As it is the only fpe- 
cimen that I have ever feen, I will beg leave to fubjoin a defcrip- 
tion of it. | | < 
Radix repens, perennis. Folia pallide virefcentia, tenuia, culmo lon- 
giora, ad margines carinamque afpera, inferiora (uti fæpius accidit) 
breviora, & culmi bafin obveftientia. Cu/zus triqueter, angulis acu- 
tis afpetis, erectus; nudus. Spica androgyna—Spiculz circiter fep- 
tem, teretes f, oblongiufculæ, fub-diftiche, approximate, fæpius 
Uá contiguæ, 
