30 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [Sess. lxxvi. 



Carex helvola, Blytt. By Arthur Bennett, A.L.S. 



Carex helvola, Blytt, ap. Fries, " Bot. Notiser" (1849), 

 p. 58. 



" Spica composita, spiculis subquinis linearibus confertis 

 (disticho-imbricatis), conformibus, distigmatibus, terminali 

 basi mascula ; bracteis evaginulatis, membranaceis, brevissi- 

 mis ; squamis ovatis, acutis ; f ructibus basi cuneata ovatis, 

 glabris, in rostrum compressum subintegrum attenuatis." 

 — "Bot. Not.," I.e. ; Fries, " Herb. Nor.," fasc. xiii., No. 85, 

 1849. 



G. canescens x lagopina, Kihlman. 



G. curta x lagopina. 



G. curta x Lachenalii, " Flora Danica," Supp., t. 32, 1853. 



In the Transactions of the Society in 1886 I first recorded 

 this as a Scottish plant, gathered by Professor J. II. Balfour 

 in 1846 on Lochnagar. 



In 1897 Mr. Druce gathered it on Ben Lawers in Perth- 

 shire (14), and published an account of it (15). 



In 1906 the Rev. E. S. Marshall (18) gathered it on 

 Lochnagar. " In the great corrie which faces north (above 

 Loch-an-Ean) it grew in wet ground associated with C. 

 canescens var. fallax. A fine patch of G. Lachenalii 

 (lagopina) grew within 20 to 30 yards of it, so the 

 hybridity was easy to account for. Alt. 3500 feet 

 (27/7/1906), in an alpine bog associated with G. rariflora, 

 Sm., above the same corrie, in much wetter ground, so that 

 the specimens were on an average considerably more 

 luxuriant. I believe the second station to be identical 

 with Crawford's; E. F. Linton grew his plant, and it 

 remained quite sterile and unchanged. There I could 

 see neither of the parents, but I believe the original 

 station for lagopina was very close at hand " (Marshall 

 in litt). 



To Mr. Marshall's (R. No. 2980) specimens Herr 

 Ktikenthal has added " very characteristic." Good culti- 

 vated specimens were issued by Rev. E. F. Linton in 1909, 

 through the Watson Botanical Exchange Club. In 1898 

 and 1899 Mr. Druce (19) gathered specimens on Ben 

 Lawers that differed, and caused him to write "helvola 



