150 



BRITISH FLORA 



is winged. The nut is inversely pear-shaped, bi- 

 convex. The plant is 9-18 in. high, flowering 

 between June and August, and is a herbaceous 

 perennial. 



Carex paradoxa, Willd. The habitat of this 

 plant is marshes and bogs. The plant has the 

 sedge habit. The rootstock is densely tufted, 

 crowned with the fibrous remains or black, erect 

 nerves of old sheaths, the decayed leaves. The 

 stems are slender, 3-angled, rough above with con- 

 vex sides. The panicles are narrow, small, long 

 and loose, spicate, with lower distinct branches. 

 The fruit is egg-shaped, swollen, the beak narrow, 

 split to the base, with overlapping margins, with 

 numerous short, raised ribs near the base. The 

 nut is rhomboidal, narrowed below, doubly con- 

 vex, with a short beak, which is not winged. The 

 style is somewhat enlarged at the base. The 

 plant is 9-18 in. high, flowering in June and July, 

 and is a herbaceous perennial. 



Grey Sedge (Carex canescens, L. = C. curta, 

 Good.). The habitat of this plant is bogs and 

 marshes. The plant has the sedge habit. The 

 plant is slender. The rootstock is tufted, with no 

 stolons. The stems are 3-sided, smooth, hardly 

 rough above, longer than the leaves. The leaves 

 are narrow, flat. The spike is slender, interrupted, 

 with few or no awl-like bracts. The spikelets are 

 3-8, egg-shaped, elliptic, touching the lower, often 

 with a bract, male below only. The glumes are 

 pale, the edges broad, membranous, white, with 

 a green keel, blunt, short-pointed. The fruit is 

 erect, acute, plano-convex, flattened, faintly ribbed, 

 the ribs slender, whitish, broadly egg-shaped, as 

 long as the glumes, pale-olive, not winged, with an 

 obscure beak, short, notched, not split, rough on 

 the borders. The nut is egg-shaped, elliptic, len- 

 ticular, with a short beak, pale. The styles are 

 persistent. The plant is 1-2 ft. high, flowering in 

 June and July, and is a herbaceous perennial. 



Carex buxbaumii, Wahl. (= C. fusca, All. = C. 

 polygama, Schkuhr). The habitat of this plant is 

 stony banks, spongy bogs, and wet places. The 

 rootstock is short, creeping, stoloniferous. The 

 stems are 3 -sided, rigid, leafy below, rough. 

 The leaves are narrow, flat, with reddish-brown, 

 rigid sheaths, the edges net-like, filamentous. The 

 lower bracts are leafy. The spikelets are 3-5, 

 oblong, blunt, close, the lower distant, shortly- 

 stalked. The glumes are rounded, blunt-pointed, 

 the lower longer than the fruit, nearly black, or 

 dark-red-brown, with a green keel which is blunt- 

 pointed. The fruit is bluish-green, oval, ellipsoid, 

 blunt, flattened, 3-angled at length, divided into 2 

 nearly to the base, shorter than the glumes, with 

 slender ribs. The nut is 3-sided, inversely ovoid, 

 brown, with white dots. There is no beak. The 

 plant is 1-2 ft. in height, flowering in July, and is 

 a herbaceous perennial. 



Tufted Water Sedge (Carex stricia, Good. = 

 C. eteta, A11. = C. Hudsonii, A. Benn.). The habi- 

 tat of this plant is marshy and peaty places. The 

 plant has the sedge habit, and is slender. It is 

 densely tufted. The stems are rigid, 3-sided, 

 slightly rough above. The leaves are long, limp, 



erect, flat, narrow, the margin rolled back when 

 dry, with long, reddish-brown, shining, filament- 

 ous leaf-sheaths, the lower leafless. The fertile 

 spikelets are stalkless, erect or drooping, long, 

 cylindrical, 1-3, sometimes male above, stout, 

 the male spikelets slender, 1-2. The bracts 

 are variable, auricled, the lower leaflike, short. 

 The fruit is rounded to egg-shaped, oblong to 

 elliptic, acute, flattened, veined, closely overlap- 

 ping, with green nerves, dark-purple, and with a 

 green keel, in 6-9 regular rows, larger than the 

 glumes, and a sheathing beak. The beak is short, 

 notched. The glumes are pitchy, dark-brown, in 

 8 rows, egg-shaped, blunt, short -pointed, the 

 lower with an excurrent rough midrib. The 

 glumes of the male spikelets are narrow, acute. 

 The nut is inversely egg-shaped, round, short- 

 beaked. The plant is 1-3 ft. high, flowering be- 

 tween May and July, and is a herbaceous per- 

 ennial. 



Carex c&spitosa, L. This species has been re- 

 ported from Yorkshire, but needs confirmation, 

 according to Mr. G. C. Druce. 



Common Sedge (Carex Goodenovii, Gay = C. 

 uulgaris, Fr. =; C. c<zspitosa, Sm. non L.). The 

 habitat of this species is damp places, marshes, 

 and wet meadows. The plant has the sedge habit. 

 The rootstock is tufted or creeping. The stem is 

 3-sided, rough above, rigid, short and curved, or 

 long, slender, and erect. The leaves are slender, 

 narrow, erect, not keeled, short, bent-back. The 

 spikelets are erect, close or distant. There are 

 1-2 male, 3-4 female, which are stalkless, cylindri- 

 cal. The glumes are dark, blunt, overlapping, 

 all the same colour, purple, or with a green mid- 

 rib and slender keel, pale-green, not so long as 

 the fruit. The fruit is elliptic, plano-convex, blunt, 

 green or olive, with purple tinge, many -veined, 

 pitchy, flattened, with slender nerves only at the 

 base sometimes. The beak is stout, round, entire, 

 smooth. The bracts are leaflike and have no 

 auricles or sheaths. The nut is round, blunt, 

 broader than long, lenticular, rarely 3-sided. The 

 plant is 9-24 in. high, flowering between June and 

 August, and is a herbaceous perennial. 



Water Sedge (Carex aquatilis, Wahl.). The 

 habitat of this plant is bogs and marshes, alpine 

 bogs, riversides, watery places. The plant has 

 the sedge habit. The rootstock is tufted, creep- 

 ing, and stoloniferous. The stems are stiff, 3- 

 angled with convex faces, stout, polished, leafy 

 below. The leaves are long, erect, the margin 

 rolled inwards when dry, the sheaths leafy, not 

 webbed. The 3-6 spikelets are erect, cylindric, 

 slender, stalked below, the males (1-3) are slender, 

 the fertile spikelets long, narrow below, the lower 

 stalked. The glumes are oblong or egg-shaped, 

 short, blunt, dark, narrower than the fruit, purple, 

 with a pale midrib. The fruit is yellowish-green, 

 somewhat rounded, egg-shaped or inversely so, 

 flattened, pale, smooth, nerveless, larger than the 

 glumes, lenticular or 3-sided. The nut is oblong, 

 narrowed below, with a short, slender beak. The 

 plant is 1-4 ft. high, flowering in June and July, 

 and is a herbaceous perennial. 



