448 CYPERACE^E. [KOBEESIA. 



rigid, terete, leafy at the base only. Leaves 2-5 in., wiry, recurved, grooved, 

 margins convolute. Spike %-l in., narrow. Spikelets subdistichous, sessile, 

 cylindric; bracts small, lowest with a rigid serrulate point. Glumes in., 

 rigid, ovate-oblong, obtuse, pale brown, basal always empty, second of the 

 lower spikelets female, the third male ; in the upper spikelets both flowers 

 are male. Nut as long as the glumes, linear, beaked, pale. DISTRIB. 

 Arctic and Alpine Europe, Greenland, Rocky Mts. 



9. CA'REX, L. SEDGE. 



Perennial grass-like herbs. Stems usually leafy. Spikelets 1-2-sexual, 

 rarely dioecious terete, solitary or in heads spikes racemes or panicles, 

 all 2-sexual or lower female with often a few male fl. at the base or top, 

 and upper male with often a few female at the top or base. Glumes 

 imbricate all round therachis, persistent or deciduous. MALE fl. Stamens 

 2-3, without perianth or bristles. FEMALE fl. a compressed or 3-quetrous 

 ovary, included in an urceolate 2-toothed sac, from which the 2-3 stigmas 

 project. Nut minute, coriaceous, compressed or 3-gonous, included in 

 the sac (perigynium}. DISTBIB. All climates, rare in trop., abundant in 

 Arctic and cold ; species about 500. ETYM. /cefpw, from the cutting foliage. 

 Sometimes a slender rudimentary rachis (racheola) occurs in the perigy- 

 nium, at the base of the ovary. 



SECTION 1. Spikelet solitary, terminal. 



1. C. pauciflo'ra, Lightf. ; monoecious, leaves involute, spikelet ebrac- 

 teate, glumes 4-6, upper male, perigynia reflexed, stigmas 3. 



Moorland bogs, York to Caithness ; ascends to 2,700 ft. in the Highlands ; fl. 

 June-July. Rootstock slender, creeping, stoloniferous. Stems 3-12 in., 

 very slender, 3-gonous, smooth. Leaves setaceous. Spikelets J in. Glumes 

 -J in., rather distant, oblong-lanceolate, acute, pale, shorter than the fusi- 

 form pale beaked perigynia. Nut 3-quetrous, pale. DISTRIB. Europe, 

 chiefly Alpine and Arctic, N. America. 



2. C. pulica'ris, L. ; monoecious, leaves involute, spikelet ebracteate, 

 glumes 6-12, upper male, perigynia reflexed, stigmas 2. 



Bogs, N. to Shetland ; ascends to 2,700 ft. in the Highlands ; Ireland ; Chan- 

 nel Islands ; fl. May-June. Rootstock tufted ; stolons or short. Stems 

 3-8 in., smooth, rather rigid, terete, grooved. Leaves setaceous, often 

 exceeding the stem. /Spikelets |-1 in. Glumes f in., lower sometimes 

 remote, ovate-oblong, subacute, about \ as long as the ovate-lanceolate 

 stalked compressed beaked pale perigynia. Racheola linear, sometimes 

 floriferous. Fruit oblong, plano-convex, grey. DISTRIB. N. and Alpine 

 Europe, N. Asia. 



3. C. Davallia'na, Sm. ; dioecious, leaves filiform flat rough, spikelet 

 ebracteate, glumes numerous, perigynia reflexed, stigmas 2. 



Near Bath (extinct) ; fl. June. Rootstock tufted, stolons 0. Stems 6-18 in., 

 very slender, strict, rough. Spikelet ^-f in. long, cylindric-oblong ; male 

 very narrow, glumes linear-oblong ; female glumes ovate, acuminate, pale 



