64 C. H. Ostenfeld. 
a the systematic standpoint is that of a variety—var, ranarius 
rar. halophilus. 
CYPERACEE. 
Scirpus cespitosus, L. 
In 1897 E. Palla (Ber. Deutsch, Bot. Ges., Vol. 15, pp. 467- 
471) pointed out that Scirpus cespitosus (his Trichophorum c@spitosum) 
was not a homogeneous species, but consists of two distinct forms, 
which he considers as two species, viz., Trichophorum austriacum 
Palla and T. germanicum Palla. The more important distinctive 
marks are anatomical, but external differences also exist. The 
author further showed that the two forms inhabit quite different 
geographical areas, T. austriacum being a northern and alpine 
species found in Greenland, North America, the Himalaya, Northern 
Europe and the central European mountains, while 7. germanicum 
was confined to the North German plain, the German “ Mittel- 
gebirge,” the French plain, Scotland and the South-Scandinavian 
plain. 
In 1903 Ascherson and Graebner (Synopsis d. mitteleurop. 
Flora II, 2 p. 300) united Palla’s two species under S. cespitosus as 
two “ Rassen” (races or varieties); and I think this is the natural 
way to treat them. I give the following external characters of the 
two varieties mainly from their description. 
S. cespitosus L. var. germanicus (Palla) Aschs. and Graebn. A 
rather slender form. The mouth of the uppermost sheath opposite 
the blade rather deeply cut (up to more than 3 mm.), with rather 
broad, mostly red-coloured and loosely appressed membranous 
margius. Spikes rather large, many flowered. Bristles of the 
perigonium papillose at the top. The older sheaths covering the 
bases of the shoots hardly shining, pale-brownish, often dark from 
decaying matter. 
S. cespitosus L. var. austriacus (Palla) Aschs. and Graebn. A 
coarser form. The mouth of the uppermost sheath not deeply cut 
(mostly not more than 1 mm.), with narrow, whitish or pale-brownish, 
closely appressed membranous margin. Spikes rather small, few- 
flowered. Bristles of the perigonium mostly not papillose at the 
top. The older sheaths larger and more loosely arranged, bright 
pale-brown, shining. 
With regard to their geographical distribution the authors have 
not much to add to that already given by Palla; they quote only 
var. germanicus from the British Isles. 
As it seemed to me to be of interest to know a little more about 
the distribution of these two varieties in the British Isles I collected 
during the excursion specimens in four different parts of the British 
Isles. The result of an external examination was :— 
Var. germanicus. Ireland, Co. Galway, Craigga More; England 
Hampshire, New Forest. To these may be added: Hebrides 
Stornoway (O. Paulsen, 1905), specimens in our Herbarium in 
Copenhagen. 
Var. austriacus. England, North Lancashire, Meachop Moss 
near Grange; Scotland, Perthshire, Ben Lawers (a form somewhat 
approaching to var. germanicus). 
These few localities seem to suggest a rather interesting dis- 
tribution within the British Isles, but much more abundant material 
