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on the bacl<, the edges of their lower half smooth, of the superior part rough, about 

 equalling the stem in height, gradually narrowing into slender, rough points. Lower 

 bractea foliaceous, rigid like the leaves, erect, forming as it were a continuation of the 

 stem as regards its direction, generally taller than the spike, though very variable in 

 this respect ; the second and superior bracteas remarkabli/ short and diminutive, nearly 

 wanting in the upper spikelets, their bases expanded, then suddenly contracting and 

 assuming an awn-like or capillary aspect ; all the bracteas have evident auricles. — 

 Spike two or three inches long, of from six to twelve ovate-lanceolate spikelets ; the 

 upper spikelets simple and remarkably crowded, those in the lower part more remote, 

 and the lowest of all almost always compound ; sometimes there are two or more com- 

 pound spikelets on the same spike, especially in robust plants, their common rachis 

 straight and triangular. Scales membranaceous, of a brownish white colour, broadly 

 ovate, equalling the fruit in breadth but not in length, bluntish, with a strong promi- 

 nent green central rib or keel, which extends beyond their apex, forming a distinct and 

 very evident mucro. Fruit ovate, ribbed, with a rather broad, straight, cloven beak. 

 Those who doubt the specific difference of this plant from Carex remota, do so, I feel 

 persuaded, from not having had a sufficient opportunity of contrasting the two plants 

 in a living state. I feel satisfied that no one who has ever witnessed, as I have done, 

 these two species growing within a few inches of each other, and preserving unaltered 

 their peculiar characteristic features, could be longer sceptical on this point. Their 

 habil is strikingly different, so much so as to impress upon the mind at once (without 

 the necessity of having recourse to minute anatomical differences) the conviction that 

 they must be essentially different plants. The distinct and separate mode of growth 

 of C. axillaris, its robust, rigid, and nearly erect triangular stems, its broader, plane 

 and channelled foliage, the remarkable disposition and comparative length of its brac- 

 teas, its more numerous and larger spikelets, and their aggregation at the summit of 

 the spike, are differences, I should think, amply sufficient to enable any one to distin- 

 guish it, ivhen seen, from C. remota, and to satisfy any mind that is open to convic- 

 tion, and willing to acknowledge the truth of facts so plainly manifest to the most 

 careless observer of the beautiful works of creation. — J. B. Wood, M.D, ; Broughton, 

 Manchester, July 19, 1842. 



199. Love of Nature. Ah ! it is the love of nature that burns within our bosoms ; 

 the instinctive admiration of those woods, dark in shadow or hallowed by the coloured 

 Iris; those cliffs now lit up in gold, or gray in twilight; those ravines whose depths 

 are hidden in foliage, and into which the river plunges with sullen roar; those land- 

 scapes with all their waters and all their inhabitants, that, solemnly robed in the mists 

 of morning, or splendidly revealed before the setting sun of evening, with all their as- 

 sociations, and all the thoughts and reflections they create and absorb, that charm, en- 

 chant, and enchain us. Whatever our avocations may be, whatever may be the object 

 or the pretence with which we set out, when once under the open canopy of heaven, 

 we axe free ; that machinery spreads before us in its simplicity and complexity, which 

 requires no sighs, groans or anguish to keep up its movements ; and that pure brisk 

 air which the country only knows, is in motion to fan our foreheads, fill our lungs and 

 excite us to hope, thought and inspiration! — Edivin Lees' '■Botanical Looker-out among 

 the Wild Flowers of the Fields, Woods and Mountains of England and Wales.'* 



* Being obliged to defer a regular notice of this pleasant work, we have given a 

 few extracts from the month of August. 



