16 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



C. ixiracloxa. Nut yellowish, broadest at or below the middle,- 

 almost as broad as long ; base of style slightly thickened. Its 

 broader outline, as compared with that of paniciilata, is well 

 shown in Schkuhr, Biedgriisern, t, cclxxxvi, E, No. 21 (1801), but' 

 is surpassed by Sir W. 0. Priestley's admirable and accurate 

 dissections. 



C. panicidata. Nut brow^nish, broadest below the middle, 

 about twice as long as broad ; base of style as in the last. I have 

 been unable to find in perigynia from various parts of Britain any 

 nuts showing such an enlarged base to the style as is figured by 

 Leighton (Z. c.) which is, if anything, more exaggerated in Eng. 

 Bot., ed. 3, t. 1622. 



C. Pseudo-jMradoxa. Nut identical with the last. 



If, then, Gibson's Pseiido-paradoxa is a distinct form or variety 

 and has nothing to do with states of C. tcretiuscula, how can we 

 account for the very diverse views expressed in the Phytologist 7 



I believe the explanation is that Gibson was describing a^ 

 different plant from that discussed by the other contributors to 

 the Phytologist, and that both the form of C. teretiuscula known 

 as var. Ehrliartiana Hoppe and also this Pseitdo-paradoxa,- 

 obviously related to C. paniculata, grow in the same locality, 

 Seaman's Moss-pits, Cheshire. This theory is strengthened when 

 one finds this station given for C. paniculata in De Tabley's Fl. 

 Cheshire, 322 (1899) ; and I have in my herbarium examples of 

 C teretiuscula var. Ehrhartiana, similarly localised, collected by 

 Mr. S. H. Bickham in 1868. 



Gibson {op. cit. 779) states that his plant also occurs plenti- 

 fully by the sides of Malham Tarn, near Settle, and on the strength 

 of this statement the locality is entered in Lees' Fl. W. Yorks.,- 

 460 (1888), but under C. teretiuscula var. Ehrliartiana. 



It may be w^ell to give here Gibson's original description of C. 

 Pseudo-par adoxa and also the diagnosis of Ascherson and Graeb- 

 ner, w4io have taken up the plant as a variety. The former runs : 

 " Carex Pseudo-paradoxa. Spikes panicled, branches approxi- 

 mate ; perigynium ovate, gibbous, acuminated into a serrulate 

 bidentate beak, more or less plano-convex, with seven nerves on 

 the convex side (three very slender in the middle and two strong, 

 ones on each side of them), the outer nerves, or those nearest the 

 margins, being very short ; nut rhomboidal, narrowing from below 

 the middle ; style enlarged at the base ; stem three-angled, angles- 

 rough on the upper part ; leaves narrow, rough on their edges. 

 This plant differs from G. teretiuscula in having its spike more- 

 distinctly panicled, in its nut being narrowed upwards from below 

 the middle, and in its style being thickened at the base ; in C. 

 teretiuscida the style is not thickened at the base, and the nut is 

 pyriform, narrowing downwards from above the middle. . 

 C. paradoxa may at once be distinguished from this plant 

 [Pseudo -par adoxa'] by its perigynium, which is more gibbous, 

 and has about nine nerves on the convex side and seven on the 

 other." 



The following is a translation from Ascherson and Graebner 

 (Synops. Mitteleurop. Flora, ii, 2, 46 (1902)) : B. pseudo-paradoxa 



