122 FLOWERS OF THE HEATHS AND MOORS 



in meadows in more lowland districts in less dry situations, but it 



is usually xerophilous. 



This is a short, leafy sedge, with an erect stem, with many leaves, 

 three-angled, usually smooth, dark-green, and shiny, leafless above. 

 The leaves are large for the size of the plant, tufted, keeled, curved 

 backwards. The bracts are leafy and clasping. 



The spikes of the flower are of different sexes, i male, 1-3 female, 

 the latter stalkless or nearly so, oblong egg-shaped. The male are 



erect. The glumes are 

 spreading, with a green 

 midrib, egg-shaped with a 

 long point. The perigynia 

 are inversely egg-shaped, 

 3-sided, acute, and downy. 

 The nut or utricle is obo- 

 void, inversely egg-shaped, 

 narrow below. 



This sedge is 6 in. high. 

 The flowers are early, ap- 

 pearing in April. The plant 

 is perennial, propagated by 

 roots. 



The floral mechanism 

 is similar to that of sedges 

 generally, the male spike- 

 lets are slender and erect, 

 the female inclined, oblong, 

 crowded. The flowers are pollinated by the wind. 



The nut is 3-sided, and when it is ripe it falls close to the parent 

 clump, being dispersed to no distance. 



The Early Sedge is a humus- loving plant, growing on humus soil. 

 The fungi, Puccinia sylvatica and Ustilago caricis, are found to 

 infest it. 



The second Latin name refers to the scent, which is like cloves. 

 Early Sedge is called Pink Grass and Iron Grass. 

 ESSENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: 



328. Carex caryophyllea, Latour. Stem short, leaves flat, curved, 

 i male spikelet, 1-3 female, oblong, glumes ovate, fruit obovoid. 



A. R. Horwood 



EARLY SEDGE (Carex caryophyllea^ Latour.) 



