SEDGE TRIBE 49 
recurved beak. Common in turfy bogs and marshes. A slender leafy 
species of a pale yellowish-green hue, growing about a foot high, and flower- 
_ ing in May and June. 
38. Loose Sedge (C. distans).—Fertile spikelets 2—3, distant, oblong ; 
bracts leafy, shining, not overtopping the barren spike; glumes terminating 
in a sudden sharp point; fruit equally ribbed on both sides, triangular, 
black-dotted, beaked. Brackish marshes, flowering in June. 
39. Tawny Sedge (C. fulva).—Fertile spikelets 1—3, oblong, ovate ; 
bracts leafy, sheathing, not overtopping the barren spikelets ; glumes acute ; 
fruit erect, with a straight rough-edged beak; stem rough. A slender plant 
about a foot high, not infrequent in boggy places in sub-alpine districts, 
marked by its leafy stem, by the long sheath which accompanies the lower 
bract, and by its short spikelets. It flowers in June. Probably a sub-species 
of C. distans. 
40. Green-ribbed Smooth-stalked Beaked Sedge (C. binérvis).— 
Very like C. déstans, except that the fruit has two principal green ribs on the 
outside. It is exceedingly difficult to discriminate between these two plants; 
if indeed they are not forms of the same. C. déstans varies in height from 
six inches to a foot, and grows in marshy places, mostly near the sea. C. 
binérvis is abundant on dry moors and mountainous woods, attaining a height 
of from 2—3 feet, and is remarkable for its slender stems, which frequently 
droop on all sides from the weight of the spikelets ; the glumes of the fertile 
spikelets are of a dark purple hue, with a green midrib; the leaves are from 
6—8 inches long, channelled, rigid, and rough edged. It flowers about June. 
The Carex described by Hooker and Boswell-Syme under the name of C. 
frigida is now thought to be more correctly regarded as a variety (var. 
sadleri) of the present species. It was discovered by John Sadler, in 1874, 
in Aberdeenshire. 
41. Smooth-stalked Beaked Sedge (C. lwvigdta).—Fertile spikelets 
3 or 4, distant, on long stalks, the lower one frequently drooping ; fruit dis- 
tinctly furrowed, tapering to a long smooth-edged beak ; bracts leaf-like, 
sheathing. Moist woods, not common. Approaching C. distans in habit, but 
well distinguished by the above characters as well as by its much longer and 
broader leaves. ‘ In Bickleigh Vale, Devon, the two species grow near each 
other, and retain their distinctive characters very decidedly. It flowers in 
June. 
42. Salt Marsh Sedge (C. punctata).—Similar to C. distans, but easily 
distinguished by comparing the fruit, which in punctata is scarcely triangular, 
ribbed only at the scarcely discernible angles, is swollen and glossy, and 
ends in a more slender, smooth and divided beak. This Sedge grows in 
marshes by the sea, from Cornwall to Hampshire, in Suffolk, Wales, Kirk- 
cudbrightshire, the south of Ireland, and in Guernsey. It flowers in June. 
43, Pink-leaved Sedge (C. pantcea).—Fertile spikelets 2 or 3, loose; 
glumes bluntish, with a green midrib; bracts leafy, sheathing, the lowest 
about as long as the spike, the rest shorter ; fruit somewhat inflated, blunt. 
A distinct and very pretty plant, from 10—18 inches high, common in 
marshes and damp meadows, well marked by its foliage, resembling in hue 
that of the garden pink, its loose spikelets with purple glumes and green 
Iv,—7 
