DALMALLY PLANTS, 1910 197 



mally and Loch Awe, where the parents grow together in pro- 

 fusion. C. vesicaria is also locally abundant near the Lusragan 

 Burn. 



G. Grahami Boott. This and other critical sedges are dealt 

 with in an extremely interesting paper by Mr. P. Ewing [Annals 

 of Scottish Natural History, July, 1910), "On Some Scottish 

 Alpine Forms of Carex." I fully agree with Pfarrer Kiikenthal 

 and him in believing that its affinity is with C. vesicaria rather 

 than with C. saxatilis (imlla Good.) ; but when he says, " I have 

 no doubt var. Grahami would soon become C. vesicaria if it were 

 grown at a low elevation," facts are against him. At Kew, though 

 it has become somewhat larger, the original Clova plant is very 

 little modified, and remains quite distinct from our ordinary low- 

 ground vesicaria forms ; and this was maintained in a root trans- 

 ferred to Mr. Linton's garden at Bournemouth. Whether it 

 should be reckoned as a variety or subspecies of vesicaria or as a 

 distinct "critical" species really depends upon individual stan- 

 dards ; for me, at present, the lowest appropriate rank is sub- 

 specific. Syme combined it with vesicaria var. alpigena Fr., and 

 described the stigmas as two ; but in the material which I possess, 

 both wild and cultivated, they are invariably three. 



C. Grahami x saxatilis. My expedition to Ben More was for 

 the special purpose of studying afresh the puzzling sedges of this 

 group which I had seen in 1889 below the neck which joins that 

 mountain to its twin-peak. Am Binnein. Last summer being so 

 dry, they did not flower as freely as usual ; I failed to refind 

 Grahami, but may have merely missed it, the area to be examined 

 being considerable. I was much pleased at obtaining good 

 specimens of this hybrid, which Mr. Ewing appears to have met 

 with elsewhere, but not described ; it may fitly bear the name 

 X C. Ewingii. " Inter C. Grahami et C. saxatilem habitu plus 

 minus intermedia, huic saspius propior; spicula mascula solitaria, 

 rarius abortiva, feminese 1-2, quam in saxatili majores ac norma- 

 liter longiores ; utriculge valde variabiles, nunc banc, nunc illam 

 referentes ; glumae ad apicem conspicue hyalino-marginatse ; fructus 

 pra3cipue bistigmatici, intermixtis quibusdam tristigmaticis. Steri- 

 lis videtur." In one or two cases the saxatilis parent was clearly 

 the form clichroa, referred to below. 



C. vesicaria L. var. alingena Fr. The description [Mantissa, 

 iii. 1842) and specimens issued by Fries in his Herbarium Normale 

 agree well enough with the British examples so determined by 

 Kiikenthal ; these are always bistigmatic, the female glumes being 

 usually hyaline-tipped ; they are, indeed, extremely like Grahami 

 in general appearance, but might with almost equal fitness be 

 placed under saxatilis. In spite of this connecting-link I quite 

 agree with Mr. Swing's contention that saxatilis deserves full 

 specific rank. 



C. saxatilis L. forma clichroa. This should apparently stand 

 as of Ewing ; Mr. Bennett points out tliat the elder Blytt (1876) 

 placed it under j^ulla, and tlie younger (1906) under vesicaria. 

 Living plants are very noticeable when young, because of the 



