732 CLXXII. OYPEUACE^. (C. B. Clarke.) [Carex. 



GURWHAL; alt. 13-14,000 ft., Duthie (n. 4499), SIKKIM ; alt. 11-15,000 ft, 

 J. L). H.. Ac. 



May be esteemed a var. of C. atrata, but the utricle is not the breadth, so 

 that the nut though smaller than that of C. atrata, nearly fills it. The lowest 

 peduncle is usually less than i in., the glumes are acuminate to a long linear obtuse 

 black point exceeding the utricles. 



Var. (3 glacialis ; stems 2-6 in., leaves much shorter than stems, spikes very 

 email (sometimes by % in.), utricles small very little inflated. C. atrata. var. 

 glacialis, Boott Carex, iii. 114, t. 365. N. Sikkim ; alt. 15-17,000 ft., J. D. H. 



97. C. nivalis, Boott in Proc. Linn. Soc. i. 256 and in Trans. Linn, 

 tfoc. xx. 136 and Carex, i. 13, t. 35 (partly) ; terminal spike wholly male or 

 fern, at top, utricle broad much compressed often of thin texture with 

 minute beak, nut stalked exceedingly small (otherwise as G. atrata). 

 Strachey Cat. PI. Kumaon, 73; Boeck. in Linnaa, xl. 400. C. cinnamomea 

 & Griffithii, Boott in Proc. Linn. Soc. I. c. 257, 286, and in Trans. Linn. 

 Soc. 1. r. 136 ; 138. C. Oliveri, Boeck. in Flora, Ixiii. 455, and in Journ. 

 Linn. Soc. xviii. 104. 



HIMALAYA and W. TIBET, alt. 11-17,000 ft., common ; from the KARAKORTJM, 

 Thomson, &c., to SIKKIM, J.D. H. DISTEIB. Cabul, Central Asia. 



Boott states (Carex, i. 13) that he finally doubted whether this was distinct from 

 C. atrata, and it is certainly not, unless Boott's sorting is altered. In G. nivalis, 

 the utricle has concuvo-cfcnvex very acute margins ; its texture is very thin becoming 

 often scarious purple or pale. The colour of the glumes varies excessively, being 

 black-red in the type plant, cinnamomeous in the N.-W. Himalaya, yellow-brown in 

 Karakorum, becoming pale yellow or preen yellow in the extreme form ; the utricles 

 in all these forms are concolorous (or nearly so) with the glumes. In G. nivalis (as 

 in C. atrata) there occur alpine forms with stems 2-3 in. high. It appears from 

 Fischer's collections that Ledebour, Turczanimow, <fec., must have included this under 

 G. atrata, C. Griffithii, Boott is founded on Griffith, n. 78, which has, in the four 

 infl. of this number, the terminal spike wholly male, and is so described by Boott. 

 Subsequently Boott mixed with this (undoubtedly correctly) both in Kew Herb, and 

 in his own Griffith n. 142 (from Cabul also) which has in the five infl. seen by me the 

 terminal spike (decisively) fern, at top. This is exactly the plant published as C. 

 Oliveri by Boeckeler, who relying on the terminal spike supposed it must be different 

 from C. Griffithii. From the large quantity seen by me I should say the terminal 

 spike was about as frequently female at top as wholly male. In his "111. Carex" 

 Boott reduces his C. cinnamomea to his C. nivalis, but does not refer to his C. 

 Griffithii. 



98. C. psychrophila, Nees in Wight Contrib. 127 ; spikes approxi- 

 mate cylindric lowest peduncled, style 3-fid, utricles ellipsoid trigonous 

 smooth pale green suddenly narrowed into a linear-oblong scabrous beak 

 not inflated. Kunth JEnum. ii. 463 ; Strachey Cat. PI Kumaon, 73 ; Boott 

 Carex, i. 70, t. 191 (excl. Boyle, n. 112) ; Bo-ck. in Linntea, xl. 402. C. 

 asperula, Nees 1. c. 124; Kunth I.e. 433 (not of Turcz.). C. parvibracteata, 

 Nees I. c. 125 ; Kunth I. c. 433. C. celsa, Boott I. c. iii. 108, t. 330. 



HIMALAYA; from KASHMIR, alt. 8-10,000 ft., G. S. Clarke, to SIKKIM, alt. 

 12,000 ft., J. D. H. ; frequent. 



Glabrous. Rhizome creeping. Stems 1-2 ft., rather slender. Leaves f as long 

 as stems, |-i in. wide, weak. Spikes ^-f by % in. (in fruit), dense; terminal spike 

 nearly always fern, at top, occasionally wholly male ; lowest spike often 1-2 in. 

 distant, on a peduncle -l in. Glumes small, ovate, triangular-tipped, chestnut, 

 with or without a yellowish keel. Utricle small, obscurely nerved, thin ; nut black, 

 nearly filling utricle; exsert part of the 3 style-branches much shorter than utricle 

 (beak included), beak about -j utricle, rather deeply 2-fid. .Not nearly allied to the 



