55^ MONOECIA TRIANDRIA. 



Vernal Carex. Anglis. 

 In dry mountainous paflures. 'U..rV. 

 The ftalk is commonly four inches high, and Iel« 

 dom exceeds fix, (lender and filiform : the leaves 

 are fmooth, and no: fharp to the touch : the 

 male fpike is fufcous, of an oval or elliptic 

 form, about half an inch long, and moft taper 

 at the bafe : the filaments are like white hairs i 

 the Antherte are yellow and linear : the female 

 fpikes are fhort, oval, fcflile, and confift of but 

 few flowers : oftentimes there is only one placed 

 at the bafe of the male, but more generally two 

 contiguous to each other, on different fides of 

 the ftalk, and fometimes three, the lowermoft 

 fubtended by a bra^ea as long or longer than 

 t\iQ fpicula : the fcales are fufcous and fmooth : 

 the capfules oval, gibbous, when viewed through 

 a lens pubcfcent, and when ripe of a dark brown 

 or blacklfh colour. It flowers in the beginning 

 of Jprily the firft of all the genus. 

 This is the fame plant which Mr. Hudfon^ in his 

 Vhr. Ang p. 351, calls C. faxatilis, of which 

 vid. fig. Oed, Ban. /• 159. a much ftronger and 

 larger plant than ours, with black cr.pfules: the 

 finallnefs of our plant, its filiform ftalk, fmooth 

 leaves, early flocfcence, but above all the pu- 

 befccnce of the capfules, determined us to place 

 it under the C. montana Un^ 



CAREX ■ 



