ROCKS AND WALLS, ETC. 



203 



plant is 3-5 in. high, flowering" from May to July, 

 and is a herbaceous perennial. 



Sheathed Sedge (Carex vaginata, Tausch.). 

 The habitat of this species is rocky Scottish moun- 

 tains. The plant has the sedge habit. The stem 

 is smooth, curved. The leaves are bent back, 

 radical, green, keeled. The bract is long and has 

 a funnel-shaped sheath (hence vaginata), loose. 

 The fertile spikelets are loose, distant, on erect 

 stalks. The fruit is 3-angled, swollen, bent down, 

 smooth, longer than the glumes, which are blunt, 

 pale -brown, egg-shaped. The nut is elliptic, 

 3-sided, beaked, the beak blunt, notched, bent 

 down. The plant is 6-15 in. high, flowering in 

 July, and is a herbaceous perennial. 



Scorched Sedge (Carex atrofusca, Schkr. = C. 

 ustulata, Wahl.). The habitat of this species is 

 wet places on Scottish mountains. The plant has 

 the sedge habit. The root is fibrous. The leaves 

 are short and broad. The bracts are scarcely 

 leaflike or sheathing. The fertile spikelets are 

 2-4, shortly stalked, egg-shaped, dense, nodding, 

 brownish-black. The terminal spike is male. The 

 glumes are egg-shaped, acute, dark-purple, with 

 a slender, pale midrib. The fruit is elliptic, 

 flattened at the border, rough -edged, with a 

 cloven beak, dark-purple, paler below. The nut 

 is brown, 3-angled, with a long beak, elliptic, 

 triangular, on a long stalk. There are 3 (rarely 

 2) stigmas. The plant is 4-10 in. high, flowering 

 in July and August, and is a herbaceous perennial. 



Capillary Sedge (Carex capillaris, L.). The 

 habitat of this plant is the Highlands and grassy 

 mountain banks and rocks, near sea -level, in 

 Sutherland. The plant has the sedge habit. The 

 root is tufted. The stems are short, smooth, 

 3-angled, slender. The leaves (mainly radical) 

 are soft, flat, bent back. The bracts are large, 

 with a long sheath, the lower including several 

 flower-stalks. The flowers are pale yellowish- 

 green. The fertile spikelets are loose, drooping, 

 few-flowered, shorter than the slender (hence 

 capillaris) flower-stalk. The glumes are blunt, 

 scattered, membranous, soon falling, with brown 

 nerves. The fruit is short-stalked, 3-angled, with 

 a long beak, bent down. The nut is elliptic to 

 egg-shaped, 3-sided. The plant is 4-12 in. high, 

 flowering in June and July, and is a herbaceous 

 perennial. 



ORDER GRAMINACE^E 



Alpine Foxtail (Alopecurus alpinus, Sm.). 

 The habitat of this grass is springs and edges 

 of alpine streams, damp grassy places, on high 

 mountains. The plant has the grass habit. The 

 stem is creeping, then erect, stout, smooth, narrow 

 above. The leaves are soft, flat, the upper usually 

 short, broad, one-third as long as the swollen 

 sheath, the upper longer than the leaf. The ligule 

 is blunt and short. The panicle is short, blunt 

 egg-shaped, oblong, loose, not more than an inch 

 long, dense, the branches short, silky, with 4-6 

 spikelets. The empty glumes are egg-shaped, 

 silky, shining;, acute, the keel fringed with silky 

 hairs. The flowering glume is blunt, hairless. 



The glumes are united below, suddenly long- 

 Dointed, egg-shaped. The awn is very short or 

 absent, not longer than the palea, or projecting 

 one-third. The anthers are yellow, linear. The 

 plant is 6-18 in. high, flowering in July and 

 \ugust, and is a herbaceous perennial. 



Alpine Cat's Tail (Phleum alpimtm, L.). The 

 liabitat of this species is wet alpine moors, alpine 

 iprings and rills, and damp alpine pastures. The 

 plant has the grass habit. The stem is solitary, 

 smooth, ascending, rijjid, creeping below. The 

 upper leaf-sheaths are swollen, the lower closely 

 pressed. The ligule is short. The panicle is egg- 

 shaped or oblong, cylindrical, dull-purple and 

 green. The empty glumes equal the rigid, rough 

 awn, the keel being hairy, and are blunt, hairless, 

 or fringed with hairs on the back. The plant is 

 6-18 in., flowering in July and August, and is a 

 herbaceous perennial. 



Alpine Tufted Hair Grass (Deschampsia alpina, 

 Roem. and Schult. = Aira lavigata, Sm.). The 

 habitat of this grass is wet rocks, mountains. 

 The plant has the grass habit, and is shorter than 

 the Tufted Hair Grass. The leaves are narrow, 

 channelled, the margins inrolled, smooth. The 

 panicle is close, with smooth branches. The 

 awn is inserted at the middle, and is shorter. The 

 glumes are smooth on the midrib. The florets are 

 often viviparous. The plant is 6-9 in. high. 



Glaucous Poa (Poa glaiica, Vahl = P. ccesia, 

 Sm.). This is a native species, occurring on 

 mountains and alpine cliffs. The plant has the 

 grass habit. The rootstock is somewhat creeping. 

 The leaves are stiff, bluish-green (hence glauca 

 and ccesia). The upper sheath is as long as the 

 leaf, folded and slightly bent in, tapered at the 

 top. The ligule is blunt. The uppermost knot is 

 near the base of the stem. The panicle is slender, 

 erect. The spikelets are large, egg-shaped, with 

 2-3 acute, free flowers, the lowest flowers longer 

 than the large glume. The lower palea is 5-veined, 

 3 being hairy. The plant is 6-12 in. high, flower- 

 ing from July to August, and is a herbaceous 

 perennial. 



Wavy Poa (Poa laxa, Haenke = P. stricla, 

 Sm. = P. minor, Bab.). The habitat of this 

 species is rocks on alps, lofty mountains. The 

 plant has the grass habit. The root is fibrous. 

 The plant is limp, smooth, pale bluish-green. The 

 stems are flattened, prostrate below. The leaves 

 are short, linear, obliquely blunt-pointed, the 

 upper longer than the sheath, folded, bent inward, 

 tapered at the point. The ligules are long, torn, 

 acute. The upper sheath is longer than the leaf. 

 The uppermost node is covered. The panicle is 

 oblong, more or less ovate, loose, more or less 

 one-sided, slightly drooping, the branches solitary 

 or divided into two, smooth, rarely rough. The 

 spikelets are viviparous, green or purple, of 3-4 

 webbed florets. The flowering glumes are 2-4, 

 with hairy keel and margins, the nerves (3-5) not 

 prominent. The empty glumes are long-pointed 

 with membranous tips. The plant is 4-9 in. high, 

 flowering in July and August, and is a herbaceous 

 perennial. 



