CAREX 



CARICA 



245 



Lvs. stiff and evergreen, long-pointed, in the common 

 garden form with a white band near either margin : 

 culm 1 ft., with a terminal staminate spike and two or 

 three slender pistillate spikes (1 in. long) from sheaths: 

 perigynium small and firm, somewhat excurved, 2- 

 toothed, glabrous. Jap. G.C. III. 13:173. R.B. 20, p. 9. 

 A very handsome plant, suited for pots or the border. 

 The stiff, clean, white-edged foliage keeps in condition 

 for months, making the plant useful for decorations 

 in which pot-plants are used. It is perfectly hardy in 

 central New York, holding its foliage all winter. A use- 

 ful florists' plant. 



tenaria, Hort. (C. ttnera, Hort.). Slender but stiff : 

 Ivs. narrow, rolling more or less when dry: staminate 

 spikes long-stalked : pistillate spikes 1 or 2, short- 

 stalked, short, with few large-turgid, tapering, shining 



360. Carex lurida. one of the common bog species. 



(Natural size.) 

 a, staminate spike; 6, b, pistillate spikes. 



perigynia and awl-like, rough-pointed scales. Probably 

 Japanese. -Cult, for its stiff foliage. Grows 18-30 in. 

 high. Allied to the N. Amer. C. bullata, Schk. 



Gaudichaudiana, Kunth (C. vulgaris, Fries, var. 

 Gaudich(tiliana, Boott). Culms erect, 1-2 ft.: Ivs. long 

 and grass-like : staminate fls. in terminal spikes ; pis- 

 tillate fls. in 2-3 cylindrical, 

 sessile or subsessile spikes : 

 perigynium lenticular, small, 

 very short beaked, obscurely 2- 

 toothed, finely nerved, longer 

 than the narrow scale. Jap., 

 Austral., N. Zeal. Useful for 

 bog planting. 



Fraseri, Andrews. Lvs. 1 in. 

 or more broad, stiff, but with 

 no midnerve, flat and thick, 

 evergreen : culm 16 in. or less 

 high, bearing at its summit a 

 single whitish spike which is 

 staminate at top : perigynium 

 ovoid, thin and inflated. Rich 

 mountain woods, Va. B.M. 1391 

 as C. _?Vaseriom#. Rare, and a 

 very remarkable plant. 



L. H. B. 



CAKICA (a geographical 

 name). Passifloracece. PAPAW. 

 Small trees, mostly with un- 

 branched trunks, the juice 

 milky. Lvs. near the top of the 

 trunk, alternate, large and vari- 

 ously lobed, soft, long-stalked: 

 plant usually dioecious: fls. in 

 racemes from the leaf -axils, the 

 staminate funnel-shaped and 

 bearing 10 anthers on the throat, 

 the pistillate larger and with 5 

 distinct petals and 1 pistil with 

 5-rayed stigma. There are about 

 20 species, in tropical Amer. 

 They have somewhat the aspect 

 of palms. Under glass in frosty 

 countries, the common C. Pa- 

 paya is frequent, and 

 is grown for its foliage 

 and interesting habit 

 (Fig. 363). In frost- 

 less countries, this spe- 

 cies is grown for its 

 fruit (Fig. 364), which 

 is oblong or egg- 

 shaped, a foot or 

 long, orange - yellow 

 when ripe, thick-skin- 

 ned, with many small 

 black seeds. The young 

 fruit is cooked and 

 eaten, and the ripe 

 fruit is eaten by na- 

 tives. 



T TT R 



The soil most suited 36L Carex ^^^ (X 

 for Caricas is a rich loam, having perfect drainage. 

 As the stem is succulent and tender, great care is nec- 

 essary to avoid bruising ; hence pot-grown plants are 

 much to be preferred to seedlings from the open 

 ground. Seeds should be selected from the best and 

 largest fruits and sown in a well-worked bed under a 

 slight shade. If seeds are quite dry or old, they should 

 be soaked in warm water before sowing. The seed- 

 ling plants are delicate, and require close watching at 

 first to avoid damping-off. Soon as plants are well 

 up remove the shading, and after the third leaf ap- 

 pears they may be pricked out into a larger bed, or bet- 

 ter, potted off in fairly rich soil. After plants are a 

 few weeks old, and have been shifted once into larger 

 pots, they may be set permanently outdoors in the 

 tropics. Caricas seldom branch, but usually grow up- 

 right like a palm, hence cuttings are not often avail- 

 able. Sometimes small branches form, and these may 

 be cut off and as readily rooted as most tropical deco- 

 rative plants, provided the cutting is not too young 

 and tender. In temperate climates, Caricas have been 



