Carex.] OYPEEACEJE. 457 



Var. C. stictocar'pa, Sm. ; spikelets short, glumes acute, fruit dotted. 

 Alpine. 



32. C. palles'cens, L. ; stems wiry, leaves hairy erect flat, female 

 spikelets 2-3 close oblong, perigynia elliptic 3-gonous obtuse smooth 

 shining green larger than the ovate cuspidate glumes, beak obscure 

 entire. 



Marshy copses and meadows, from Caithness southd. ; ascends to 1,900 ft. in 

 the Highlands ; Ireland; Channel Islands ; fl. June-July. Rootstock tufted, 

 stolons 0. Stems 1-2 ft., ;3-quetrous, slender, often leafy, scaberulous. 

 Leaves §-£ in. broad, green ; hairs scattered, soft. Male spikelet erect, pale 

 yellow-red; female § in., shortly pedicelled; bracts foliaceous, sheaths 

 short. Glumes few, very pale brown, margins whitish, midrib green. Nut 

 obovoid, 3-quetrous, dotted and striate. — Distrib. Europe (Arctic) (excl. 

 Spain, Greece), Siberia, N. America. 



33. C. panice'a, L. ; stems curved, leaves glaucous flat, bract-sheaths 

 long, spikelets oblong, perigynia 3-gonous smooth dotted exceeding the 

 ovate dark glumes, beak very short terete decurved obliquely notched. 

 Wet meadows, &c, N. to Shetland ; ascends to 2,300 ft. in the Highlands ; 



Ireland ; Channel Islands ; fl. June-July. — Rootstock tufted, creeping, 

 stoloniferous. Stems 1-2 ft., leafy, 3-gonous, smooth. Leaves \-\ in. broad, 

 margins rough. Male spikelets 1-2, narrow, clavate ; female 2-4, §-£ in., 

 rather distant, inclined, obloug or cylindric, dark, lower rarely loug- 

 pedicelled ; bracts variable. Glumes obtuse acute or cuspidate, midrib broad 

 green rarely concolorous, edges pale. Perigynia ovoid, pale brown, nerves 

 obsolete. Nut 3-quetrous, brown, dotted.— Distrib. Europe (Arctic), N. 

 Asia, N". America. 



34. C. vagina'ta, Tausch ; stems curved, leaves recurved keeled, 

 bract long, sheath loose, spikelets short lax-fid., perigynia 3-gonous turgid 

 smooth longer than the ovate brown obtuse glumes, beak cylindric de- 

 curved obliquely 2-fid. C. sali'na, Don ; G. Mielichofe'ri, and C. phceo- 

 sta'chya, Sm. not Schk. ; €. scot'iea, Spr. ; C. sparsifld 'ra t Steud. 

 Rocky mts. of Dumbarton to Sutherland, alt. 2,000-3,800 ft.; fl. July.- 



Habit, &c, of C. panice'a, but leaves more radical, broader, recurved, never 

 glaucous ; bracts shorter, sheaths looser ; spikelets laxer-fld.; glumes paler, 

 more obtuse; perigynia longer obovoid and decurved, beak longer, cylindric. 

 Nut elliptic, 3-quetrous, beaked. — Distrib. Arctic Europe and America, 

 Germany, Siberia. — Stigmas 2-4 (Boott). 



35. C. capillar'is, L. ; stems short, leaves recurved flat, bracts large, 

 sheath long, female spikelets few-flowered pendulous, perigynia pedicelled 

 elliptic-lanceolate 3-gonous smooth shining much exceeding the pale 

 hyaline obtuse glumes, beak slender entire. 



Grassy mountain banks and rocks, local, York to Shetland ; ascends to 

 2,700 ft. in the Highlands; fl. June-July. — Rootstock tufted. Stems 4-8 in., 

 3-gonous, smooth. Leaves chiefly radical, soft. Spikelets small ; male very 

 slender ; female 2-3, |-i in., shorter than the capillary pedicel ; upper 

 bracts with hyaline tips, lower much larger. Glumes scattered, embracing 



