1067 



and properly considered a mere, and not very constant, form of C. 

 flava. The E. B. figure of C. flava is, Dr. Boott informs me, the va- 

 riety lepidocarpa, and that of Host (Gram. Aust. i. p. 48, t. 63) 

 resembles, in its tall, slender habit and very small perigynes, a plant I 

 have received from Dr. Boott, under the name of C. CEderi, from the 

 Falls of Niagara, and which Dr. B. is inclined to consider distinct 

 from the European plant so denominated. 



Carex fulva. Var. /3. speirostachya, Wahlenb. (fide Boott), C. 

 Hornschuchiana, Hoppe. In damp or marshy meadows and pastures, 

 as well brackish as fresh, in several parts of the county, often in great 

 plenty, and mostly on or towards the coast. In the Isle of Wight 

 chiefly found in West Medina, particularly in Freshwater, in some 

 parts of which it abounds, as in the marsh meadows at Easton, and 

 on the boggy ground at the upper end of Colwell Heath, towards 

 Weston, plentifully. Observed elsewhere in damp meadows about 

 Colwell, and in a meadow at Norton. Near Briddlesford Heath, 

 June, 1841, the only station in East Medina I find amongst my notes. 

 In profuse abundance in a salt-marsh meadow, amongst other coarse 

 herbage, on the station for Polypogon monspeliensis, opposite Far- 

 lington Church, near Havant, July, 1849. Meadow near Winton, 

 July, 1850. Marsh meadows near Bishop's Stoke. 



Are not C. fulva and C. distans simply forms of one and the same 

 species ? The differences when fairly weighed are very slight. Both 

 inhabit the sea coast or inland places, fresh or salt-marsh ground, in- 

 differently. The chief differences I find to distinguish C. distans 

 from C. fulva, are the usually more numerous and crowded and nearly 

 erect (not, as in C. fulva, patent or spreading) perigynes, hence the 

 more elongated shape of the pistillate spikes ; the greater smoothness 

 of the culms at top, that are nearly devoid of roughness ; in the less 

 pointed glumes, destitute of a pale, membranous edging; in the 

 somewhat shorter beak ; and larger and differently shaped nut, which 

 is rather ovoid-oblong than turbinate, more attenuated at each end, 

 with sharper angles. Good full-length figures of C. fulva and dis- 

 tans are seen in Fl. Dan. t. 1049, 2043, 4 and 5. 



Carex- distans. In muddy or marshy ground near the sea; rare, 

 or at all events much less frequent than C. fulva in this county and 

 island, nor am I quite sure that some of the earlier noted of the sub- 

 joined stations do not belong to the latter. On a piece of moist 

 ground near the shore in Gurnet Bay. In a creek of the Medina by 

 Medham brick-field, 1840. Abundant at Freshwater Gate, especially 

 in the second meadow from the shore (probably C. fulva). Plentifully 



