MONOECIA— TRIANDRIA. Carex. 121 



essentially by having constantly 3 stigmas. Stem with 3 very 

 rough angles, whose interstices are unequal. Leaves broadish, 

 erect ; rough at the edges and keel, Bracteas without sheaths, 

 and seldom auricledj the lowermost large, rising above the 

 stem. Catkins all cylindrical and bluntish, erect, slightly 

 stalked ; the barren ones generally 3 ; fertile about as many, 

 often barren- flowered at the top. Scales of the former oblong, 

 obtuse, of a shining brown, with a green keel^ of the fertile 

 ones lanceolate, acute, commonly tipped with a brown rough 

 point, or awn. Fruit crowded, ovate, triangular though much 

 compressed, green, smooth, strongly and copiously ribbed, ra- 

 ther longer than the scales, with ii short, acute, more or less 

 deeply cloven, beak. Seed triangular. 



54. C, r'lparia. Great Common Carex. 



Stigmas three. Catkins erect, with taper-pointed scales. 

 Fruit ovate, tumid, with a deeply-cloven beak. 



C, riparia. Curt. Lond.fasc. 4. t. 60, Gooden. Tr. of L. Soc. v. 2. 

 200. Willd. Sp. PL V. 4. 306. Fl. Br. 1003. Engl. Bot. v. 9. 

 t. 579, Hook. Scot. 269. Schk. Car. 122. t. Q, q. /: o. t. R. r. 

 /. 105. 



C, acuta. Huds. 413. Light/. 565. 



C. crassa. Ehrh. Calam. 59. " Host Gram. v. 1 . 68. t. 93." 



C. vesicaria /3 and y. Leers 205. t. 1 6./. 2, 1 and II. 



Cyperoides aquaticum maximum, foliis vix unciam latis, caule ex- 

 quisite triangulari, spicis habitioribus erectis, squamis in ari- 

 stam longiiis productis, capsulis oblongis, bifidis. Mich. Gen. 57. 

 n. 10. t.32.f.7; alson. 11./. 6. 



Gramen cvperoides cum paniculis nigris, RaiiSyn.4l7. Bank. 

 Hist. v.'2. 494./. 



G. cyperoides latifolium, spica rufa, sive caule triangulo. Bauh. 

 Pin. 6, with very doubtful synonyms. Theatr. 83./. 31oris. v. 3 

 242. sects, t. 12. f. 1. 



In watery places, especially in the reedy margins of rivers, abun- 

 dantly. 



Perennial. April, May. 



The largest and stoutest of our Carices, distinguished from every 

 variety of ccespitosa, stricta and acuta by its 3 stigmas, and from 

 paludosa by its pointed, triangular, barren catkins, as well as 

 its darker, less glaucous, herbage, tumid, fruit, and pointed 

 scales of both kinds of catkins. From all these species it differs 

 in its greater size. 



The root is thick and long, creeping extensively. Stem a yard or 

 more in height, erect, firm, with 3 sharp, very rough angles. 

 Leaves broad, upright, rough at the edges and keel, deep green, 

 with very little of a glaucous hue. Bracteas like them, rising 

 above the stem, with very short sheaths, and pale rounded au- 



