450 GYPERAGE^. [CAREX. 



Wet meadows and marshes, from Lanark and Aberdeen southd. ; ascends to 

 1,200 ft. in the Highlands ; Ireland ; fl. June. Rootstook creeping. Stems 

 1-3 ft., stouter than in C. divi'sa, leafy, 3-gonous, scaberulous above. Leaves 

 -^ in. broad, flat. Spike |-3 in., subdistichous, pale brown, sometimes 

 compound at the base, the upper and lower spikelets usually wholly male, 

 intermediate chiefly male ; bract never large and leafy. Nut ovoid, ferrugi- 

 nous. DISTRIB. Europe, N. Asia, N. America. 



9. C. arena'ria, L. ; stems short, spike oblong, bracts setaceous, peri- 

 gynia substipitate elliptic-ovoid ribbed winged exceeding the subaristate 

 glumes, wing broad and 2-fid beak serrulate. 



Sandy sea-shores, N. to Shetland, and inland in Surrey, Norfolk, and Suffolk ; 

 Ireland ; Channel Islands ; fl. June. Very near C. disticha, but habit 

 different, shorter ; leaves rigid, curved ; glumes more mucronate, and fruit 

 with a broad coriaceous wing. Eootstock very long, stout, branched, binding 

 the sands. Stems 8-12 in., stout, curved, 3-quetrous, scabrid above. Leaves 

 chiefly radical, stiff, margins involute. Spike 1-3 in., compressed, pale 

 brown. Spikelets many, lower female, upper usually male, intermediate 2- 

 sexual. Nut plano-convex, chestnut, shining. DISTRIB. Europe, Siberia. 



VAR. C. liyer'ica, Gray, is a more slender form with female spikelets at the 

 top. Scilly Islands. N. and W. Europe. 



** Spikelets male at the top only, in compound heads spikes or panicles (rarely 

 simply spiked or capitate in 12, murica'ta ; see also 8, dis'ticha). 



10. C. panicula'ta, L. ; stout, rootstock very short, spikelets many in 

 a broad or narrow elongate panicle, perigynia ovoid many-nerved below 

 broadly 3-gonous equalling the pale margined ovate subaristate glumes, 

 beak narrow 2-toothed serrulate. 



Wet copses and marshes, from Orkney southd. ; Ireland ; Channel Islands ; fl. 

 June- July. Rootstocks densely matted, forming tussocks 2-4 ft. diam. 

 Stems 1-4 ft., leafy, stout, 3-quetrous, scaberulous above. Leaves harsh, 

 long, narrow, flat. Panicle 2-6 in., very variable, rarely reduced to a simple 

 spike, pale brown. Branches short or long ; bracts or setaceous. Spikelets 

 crowded, pale brown. Perigynia truncate or cordate below, opaque, narrowed 

 into the long beak. Nut ovoid, base narrowed, biconvex, base of style 

 tumid. DISTRIB. From Sweden southd., Canaries, W. Siberia. 



C. PANICULA'TA proper; panicle usually broad. 



Sub-sp. C. PARADOX'A, Willd. ; stem clothed below with black erect nerves of 

 old sheaths, panicles smaller laxer, beak of perigynia narrower split to the 

 base with overlapping margins, nerves as in C. panicula'ta. Bogs, very 

 rare ; Middlesex, Norfolk, York, Westmeath. DISTRIB. Europe (Arctic), 

 Siberia. 



11. C. teretius'cula, Good. ; slender, rootstock obliquely creeping, 

 panicle narrow spike-like, spikelets few, perigynia spreading ovoid turgid 

 few-nerved exceeding the ovate acuminate glumes, beak long rough 2- 

 toothed. 



Bogs and meadows, from Caithness to Devon and Kent ; Ireland ; fl. June. 

 Near C. panicula'ta, but forming scattered tufts (not tussocks), rootstock 

 creeping; stems wiry, much more slender; spike shorter, broader, more 



