Caricography. 67 



point, brown, white and sub-ciliate on the edge and green 

 on the keel and about two thirds as long as the fruit ; the 

 whole plant rough, very glabrous, and its colour a deep 

 green. 



Flowers in May — grows in wet situations at the foot of 

 hills, and in tufts along brooks. 



This plant is abundant in Berkshire Co., and was con- 

 sidered an undescribed species before it was sent to Mr, 

 Schweinitz, who gave it the above name in the " Synop- 

 tical Table of Carices." It has been thought by some to 

 be a variety of C. pellita, Muh. — but it is so different from 

 that species in a great many characters that there can be 

 no doubt that it is made a new species with the utmost 

 propriety. The roughness of its fruit is a very peculiar 

 character. 



31. C. retrorsa. Schw. 



Spicis distinctis, tristigmaticis ; spicis staniiniferis sub- 

 ternis, suprema longa pedunculata tenue, ceteris brevibus 

 parvis saepe basi fructiferis sessilibus ; spicis fructiferis 

 subquinis oblongis cylindraceis approximatis subfascicula- 

 tis cum bracteis foliaceis incluse pedunculatis, infima 

 ssepe perremota longe et incluse pedunculata; fructibus 

 ovatis inflatis rostratis bifurcatis nervosis reflexis, squama 

 lanceolata duplo longioribus. 



Culm 18 — 30 inches high, obtusely triangular, scabrous 

 above, large and leafy ; leaves linear-lanceolate, scabrous 

 on the edges and midrib above, nerved, puncticulate or 

 knotted, longer than the culm, flat and rather broad ; 

 staminate spikes about 3, rarely one, the highest long, slen- 

 der and pedunculate, the others short, sessile, and often 

 pistillate at the base ; staminate scale oblong, rather ob- 

 tuse, brownish ; stigmas 3 ; pistillate spikes 4 — 6, often 

 clustered at the apex into a kind of fascicle, and closely 

 imbricate, upper one sessile, others short-pedunculate and 

 their peduncles nearly inclosed in the sheaths of the bracts, 

 the lowest one often quite remote with a long inclosed pe- 

 duncle ; bracts leafy, scabrous, much longer than the 

 culm ; fruit ovate, inflated, w^th a long, acuminate, bi- 

 furcate beak, glabrous, nerved and bent backwards ; pis- 

 tillate scale lanceolate, brown with a green keel, extend- 



