BOTANICAL NEWS. - ,127 



rather longer than the stems, and the lowest bract greatly exceeds the 

 male spike, — the contrary being stated in ' English Botany ' to be the case. 

 It may be mentioned that Godron, in the Fl. de France, t. iii. p. 424, 

 like Dr. Syme, divides C. eu-flava into var. a gemiina and /3. lepidocarpa, 

 the former having approximate, and tlie latter slightly scattered spikes, 

 while the var. a. gennina of ' English Botany ' has the spikes not con- 

 tignous, and /3. lepiducirpa all approximate. The plants of the north of 

 England which I have examined agree better with Godron's characters. 

 The figure of C. CEderi, Elirh., given in 'English Botany,' plate 167+, 

 very accurately represents the plants of Mere Mere and Southport, which 

 also agree with Belgian specimens published in Van Heurck's ' Herbier 

 des Plantes Rares ou Critiques,' n. 189. But Dr. Syme quotes Billot's 

 plant (Fl. Gall, et Germ. Exsicc, n. 1352) as identical with this species, 

 whereas the specimens in my set differ greatly from the ' English Botany' 

 plate and description. In Billot's plant the male spikes are on long 

 stalks, while the female spikes are widely separated from each other, and 

 are not as spreading as they are represeu ed in ' English Botany ; ' the 

 fruits also differ in not being abruptly narrowed or inflated, and the beak, 

 instead of being short and straight, as in the Manchester plants, is some- 

 Avhat long and slightly recurved. It is worth noticing, as bearing upon 

 the specific distinctness of this plant, that M. Crcpin, in his ' Manuel de 

 la Flore de Belgique,' mentions that it is remarkable in its shoots, put- 

 ting forth every year new tufts of leaves and new stems, which I under- 

 stand to mean that fresh stems appear simultaneously with the new 

 leaves, instead of the stems being produced from the tufts of the preceding 

 season, as in most sedges. — Mr. Sidebothara, who also exhibited a large 

 series of each of the plants from various localities, gave it as his opinion 

 that they w^ere three distinct species, not difficult to separate even in their 

 extreme forms ; and he extended to all three the remark of Dr. B. Syme, 

 in the new edition of ' English Botany,' where he says, that although 

 it might sometimes be difficult at first sight to distinguish the species, 

 when a dried specimen only was seen, he had never found the least diffi- 

 culty when the plants were growing. The following short characters 

 were, he thought, quite sufficient to separate the species from each other : 

 — Carex pava ; fruit yellow, nuts large, beak very long, detlexed. C. 

 lepidocarpa ; fruit pale green or yellowish-green, nuts smaller and beak 

 shorter than in C. Jluva, beak straight. C. (Ederi ; fruit pale yellow, 

 nuts very much smaller than preceding, and more globular, beak very 

 much shorter, straight. He had never gathered C JIava in the Man- 

 chester district, although abundant in the north of Lancashire ; O. CEderi, 

 he reported as occurring abundantly at Llaiuludno. [Is typical G. (Ederi 

 ever found away from the coast in England ?] 



