172 CAREX RIGIDA AND ITS VARIETIES. 



G. hyperborea is also older than G. vulgaris. It is the accepted 

 practice, when combining specific names into a composite species, 

 to erect the oldest specific name into the type. C. rigida should, 

 therefore, be taken as the type of this species, for there can be no 

 doubt, as Dr. Boott long ago showed, but that C. rigida and C. 

 vulgaris are specifically one. Boott appears to have had it in mind 

 to refer all the forms of the species to G. rigida rather than to G. 

 vulgaris, for in his ' Illustrations ' he frequently uses the former 

 name in combination incidentally : but his characterizations are 

 always drawn under the latter name. 



The proper re-casting of the species would probably treat it 

 about as follows : — 



Carex rigida Gooden. Linn. Trans, ii. 193, t. 22 (1792). 



C. saxatilis auct. Scand., not Linn. 



G. saxatilis vars. infuscata, pudica, lutosa, Drejer, Revis. Crit. 

 Car. Bor. 42, 43 (1841). 



C. vulgaris var. alpina Boott, hi. 167 (1867). 



G. FyllcB Holm. Engl. Bot. Jahrbucher, viii. 294 (1887). 

 Northern Europe, Scotland, and probably in the Rocky Mountain 

 region of North America. 



Var. Bigelovii Tuckm. Enum. Meth. 19 (1843). G. Bigelovii 

 Torr. Ann. N. Y. Lye. i. 67 (1824). C. Washingtoniana Dewey, 

 Sill. Journ. (I.), x. 272 (1826). G. saxatilis var. Bigelovii Torr. 

 Monogr. 397 (1836). C. saxatilis var. inferaljrina L. L. Laes- 

 tadius, Loca Parall. PI. 287 (1839). G. hyperborea Drejer, Revis. 

 Crit. Car. Bor. 43 (1841). C. Fridrichsthaliana Steud. PI. Cyper. 

 211 (1855). C. dubitata Dewey, Wood's Bot. 1861, 755. C. vul- 

 garis var. hyperborea Boott, hi. 167 (1867). G. Warmingii Holm. 

 Engl. Bot. Jahrbucher, viii. 294 (1887). Lapland, Faroe, (Scot- 

 land ?), Iceland. Greenland, and southward in America to Mt. 

 Washington, and evidently also in the Rocky Mountains. 



Var. Goodenovii. — G. acuta /?. Linn. Fl. Suec. ed. 2, 334 

 (1745). C. acuta a. nigra Linn. Sp. PL ed. 1, 978 (1753). C. 

 caspitosa Gooden. Linn. Trans, ii. 195, t. 21 (1792). C. Goodenovii 

 Gay, Ann. Sci. Nat. (II.), xi. 191 (1839). G. vulgaris Fries, Mant. 

 iii. 153 (1842). Northern Europe and Asia, and along the North 

 Atlantic seaboard in North America. 



Var. strictiformis. — C. Limula? Gray, Man. ed. 5, 582 (1867). 

 C. vulgaris var. strictiformis Bailey, Mem. Torr. Club, i. 74 (1889). 

 Near the seaboard from Pennsylvania northward to Canada. 



Var. limula. — G. limula Fries, Summa, 229 (1846). C. vul- 

 garis var. hyperborea (limula) Boott, iii. 169 (1867). Scandinavia. 



Var. elytroides. — G. elytroides Fries, Summa, 232 (1846). G. 

 vulgaris var. elytroides Boott, iii. 168 (1867). Near the seaboard 

 from Holland northward. 



Var. tricostata. — G. tricostata Fries, Mant. iii. 152 (1842). C. 

 vulgaris var. tricostata Boott. iii. 168 (1867). Scandinavia. 



Var. juncea. — G. vulgaris var. juncea Fries, Mant. iii. 154 

 (1842). C. vulgaris var. juncella Fries, Summa, 230 (1846). G. 

 angmtifolia Smith, Engl. Fl. 127 teste Boott. Great Britain and 

 Northern Europe. 



