NOTES ON CAREX 173 



from type, which seems to me quite varietal. I have always, 

 however, regarded the so-called var. borealis, And., of C. vaginata, 

 which is frequent on the Cairngorms above 3000 feet, as merely 

 an alpine state. 



C. binerris, Sm., var. Sadleri (Linton). Both this and var. nigrescens, 

 Druce, remain constant under cultivation; but the former, 

 whether identical with var. alpina, Drejer, or not, is at least a 

 good subspecies, whereas var. nigrescens, from Corrie Kander, 

 differs from type only by its darker glumes, the fruit-character 

 being normal. 



C, distans, L. My inland gatherings from the neighbourhood of 

 Trowbridge and Devizes, North Wilts (No. 2718, etc.), where it 

 is locally plentiful, have the beak of the fruit rather longer and 

 more gradually narrowed from the base than in the coast-form 

 referred by C. B. Clarke to C. neglecta, Degland ; the utricles 

 also appear to be less conspicuously punctate. 



C.flava, L. The typical plant of Linn. Herb, seems to be most 

 rare in Britain ; I believe that I have observed it only once, 

 near Fulbourne, Cambridgeshire, but alpine forms occur in 

 the Breadalbanes which belong here, one of which (from about 

 2000 feet on Ben More, 88, Mid-Perth), with very inflated, 

 subglobose fruit, and stems 3 to 6 inches high, was named var. 

 pygmtza. And., by Kiikenthal. C. lepidocarpa, Tausch, perhaps 

 distinct enough to rank as a species, is most frequent in north 

 Scotland, but occurs as far south as Dorset, and in Ireland. 



C. CEderi, Retz., var. <xdocarpa, And. (flava, var. minor, Towns.). 

 By far our most common and generally distributed representa- 

 tive of the yfrtz'rt-group in the three kingdoms. Much can be 

 said in favour of keeping it under restricted C. flava, L. ; but 

 it varies greatly (this is well shown on the plate in Flora Danica), 

 being sometimes nearly two feet high, and sometimes only two 

 or three inches, as at Fleet Pond, 1 2, North Hants, where it 

 shades off almost imperceptibly into typical CEderi. I think that 

 Andersson's name should be retained, both as being older, and 

 as more in accordance with the features of the plant taken as 

 a whole. Though the beak is usually (not always) much longer 

 than in type-CEderi and the other varieties, it is straight, never 

 in my experience abruptly deflexed, as mflava and lepidocarpa; 

 and occasionally the fruit itself is small. 



C. inflata, Huds., Fl. Angl., ed. 2, p. 412 (1778). Mr. Beeby, the 

 most accurate and careful botanist of my acquaintance, whose 

 untimely death is an almost irreparable loss, demurred to the 

 identification of this with C. rostrata, Stokes (ampullacea, Good.), 

 on the ground of Hudson's species being described as having a 

 solitary male spikelet ; but I cannot see that the expression, 



