MONOGY 



107 



38. C. Summits 2 : sheaths none : spikes nearly sitting ccespito'sa. 



and cylindrical, blunt : leaves upright, soft. 



Linn. Trans, ii. 21. S-rPark. 1266*. 3. 



Root creeping very much. Straw upright, 4 to 12 inches 

 high, or more - a not rigid, 3-square, corners acute, roughish. 

 Leaves pleasant green with a glaucous cast, soft, upright, tall as 

 the straw, rough towards the end at the edge and on the keel. 

 Male sp. 1, (rarely 2,) upright, terminating, oblong, 3-sided, £ 

 to 1 inch long ; scales egg-shaped, blunt. Fern, spikes 2 or 3, 

 nearly cylindrical, blunt, the lower on a short fruit-stalk, the 

 upper ones without any. Florets in 6 or 8 rows, closely tiled. 

 Scales egg-shaped, either blunt or pointed, black, shorter than 

 the ripe capsules. Fl. leaves at the base of each female spike, 

 but not sheathing, dilated and black at the base, generally taller 

 than the straw. Caps, egg-shaped, bluntish, somewhat com- 

 pressed, smooth, entire at the end. Summits 2. It flowers near 

 a month later than the C. stricta, and the capsules in this adhere 

 to the fruit-stalk even in decay, whilst in the stricta they fall off 

 as soon as they are ripe. Goodenough. — Upper female spike 

 sometimes with male flowers at the end. The lower florets of 

 the female spikes have sometimes 3 summits. 



Marshes and wet woods. P. April, May. 



39. C. Summits 2 : sheaths none : spikes nearly sitting, stri'c ta* 



cylindrical, acute : male spikes mostly 2 : Leaves 

 upright, stiff and straight. 



Linn. Tr. ii. 21. 9* 



Root creeping very much. Straw 1 to ? feet high or more, 

 upright 3-square, corners acute, rough. M. spikes generally 2, 

 upright, 1 to 2 inches long, 3-sided. Scales oblong, acute, 

 black. Fern. sp. 3, 1 to 2 inches long, sitting, but the lowermost 

 on a short fruit-stalk, cylindrical, but acute, because of some 

 m ale florets at the end. Scales oblong, acute, rather shorter 

 than the capsules. Fl. leaves to the female spikes leaf-like, sit- 

 ting, dilated at the base when young, but the expanded part soon 

 vanishes. Capsules compressed, egg-shaped, acute, smooth, en- 

 tire at the end, disposed in 8 rows. Summits 2, thickish, hairy. 

 Has often been supposed the same as the C. coespitosa, from the 

 number of circumstances common to both ; but in the C stricta 

 the root-leaves which sheath the bottom of the straw have this 

 sheathing part split into threads like open network : they too, 

 as well as the fl. leaves, are shorter than the straw at the time 

 of flowering. The fl. leaves, particularly the lower ones, have 

 cither no expanded appendages at the base, or only oblong ones, 

 which are presently so elongated as to disappear, that is, to lose 

 a *I their expanded form. The fern, spikes are acute, owing to 

 fkeir being terminated by njale florets ; the scales are all acute, 



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