PLANTS THAT MAY OCCUR IN BRITAIN 99 



CaREX FEIUIDA All. 



Although from its Continental distribution this is somewhat un- 

 likely to be found in our Islands, beinj^' non-Scandinavian and more 

 or less local in its stations in the Alps, Apennines, Vosges, Pyrenees, 

 etc., it seems worthy of mention from the fact that it was reported in 

 1874 as having been discovered by John Sadler durins: the excursion 

 of the Scottish Botanical Alpine Club to the Aberdeen and Forfarshii-e 

 mountains. 



The plant remained in our lists until the Rev. E. F. Linton, in an 

 interesting article in this Journal for 1898 (p. 41), conclusively showed 

 that Sadler's plant was much more closely allied to C. hinervis than 

 to C. frigid'a ; he gave it the name C. Sndleri, saymg however that 

 " C. hinervis Sm. var. Hadleri would perhaps be better." 



The stoloniferous root, the lanceolate male-glumes and the scabrid 

 beak of the perigynia of C.frifjida separate it from C. hinervis and 

 all its varieties. 



Carex l.?:tirostrts Fries. 



This plant, which is also called C rliyncophysa C. A. Meyer, has 

 a somewhat restricted distribution in Europe, but as that includes 

 Lapland (Russian and Swedish), Finland, Northern and Southern 

 Norway and Sweden, it may possibly occur in northern or eastern 

 Scotland. 



C. rostrata is its nearest British ally and indeed C. Icevirosfris 

 might be easily passed over as a broad-leaved form of this. 



The larger number of male spikes, the longer-beaked fruit, the 

 triquetrous stem and the broad, flat, spreading leaves, etc., are all 

 very obvious points that keep the last-named plant abundantly 

 distinct. 



In 1893 it was reported in this Journal (p. 38) that C. rhynco- 

 physa had been discovered in Ireland and a figure was there given of 

 the Irish plant. The descriyjtion and figure given did not setrm con- 

 clusive evidence that the true plant had been found and in 1899 

 Mr. Druce read a paper before the Linnean Society ( Journ. Linn. Soc. 

 276, 1899) in which he maintained, after having seen the Irish plant 

 growing, that it was not true Icevirosfris but rather C. rostrata var. 

 latifolia Ascherson. I understand that Mr. Arthur Bennett considers 

 the Irish plant nearer the American Carex named C. rostrata With, 

 var. utricutata Bailey, which occurs in bogs right across the Continent 

 north of Ohio. This is the C. utriculata of Boott, figured in his 

 Illustrations of Carex, i. t. 39. 



