74 



sessile, but not amplexicaul base, slightly saccate or shallowly pli- 

 cate just above the base ; * * * the general bracts are as the upper 

 leaves; the first partial bracts are more lanceolate, being generally 

 broadest rather below the middle ; the other bracts broadly cordate, 

 obtuse, vrith a minute apiculus. The involucres contain one or 

 two, hardly ever three, male flowers : their usually oval glands bear a 

 few bristles on the under side. The capsules are covered with sub- 

 cylindrical tubercles, which shrink so little, that they retain their 

 shape tolerably when dry. The reddish brown seeds are oval, obo- 

 vate, and, when the testa is removed, appear almost pyriform : the 

 funiculus is externally somewhat like an inverted basin divided verti- 

 cally, attached to the placenta by the edges of its divaricating walls, 

 leaving a broad notch between them, in the interior of which is the 

 process to which the hilum of the seed is attached." 



This beautiful plant is extremely local, being confined to the vici- 

 nity of Tintern and the Wynd Cliff, and to " a spur projecting from 

 the strip of limestone which flanks the forest of Dean to the west." 

 In the Wynd-Cliff locality the soil seems to contain its seeds in such 

 abundance that it makes its appearance in the most unlooked-for sta- 

 tions. I recollect remarking one that seemed extraordinary for so 

 conspicuous a plant. The road under Wynd Cliff having been 

 repaired with a tolerably thick layer of broken stones, the few 

 wheeled vehicles that pass that way avoided the rough ground as much 

 as practicable ; and some two or three dozen plants had grown up 

 among the stones, almost in the middle of the I'oad. 



Of Mr. M'Laren's paper on the Carices a copious abstract has 

 already appeared, and I presume we shall have it again in the 

 ' Transactions of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh.' I confess I 

 do not like this yjlan of making one pay so many times for the same 

 information ; but 1 presume the cause of the introduction of Mr. 

 M'Laren's paper into the ' Botanical Gazette ' is the " botanical 

 famine" to which I alluded last month. Mr. M'Laren describes 

 seventeen species, as under : — 



1. C. teretiuscula, Gooden., &c. 



2. C. paniculata, Linn., &c. Of this species C. paradoxa of 

 Schkuhr is given as a variety. 



3. C. vulpina, Linn., &c. 



4. C. muricata, Linn., &c., of which C. divulsa of Wahlenberg, 

 &c., is given as a variety. 



5. C. axillaris, Gooden., &c., of which C. Boenninghausiana of 

 Wiehe and C Hailstoni of Gibson are given as one variety. 



