94 Caricography. 
it seems that the plants now called C. canescens on the con- 
tinent is the C. curtaof Goodenough. The writer in Rees’ 
Cyc. considers the two as different species, and describes 
them under these two names, though he admits their great 
similarity and the great resemblance of Loesel’s fig. of C. 
eurta to both. He points out no essential difference be- 
tween them, though he mentions their different general ap- 
pearance to the eye. The two plants found in this section 
of the country are said to agree with C. curta from differ- 
ent parts of Europe, and though their general appearance is 
different, they answer to one description in all their essen- 
tial characters. The difference in the aggregation of the 
upper spikelets appears in both plants, and the slight dif- 
ference in the scales and fruit is found on the same plant in 
both varieties. The lighter coloured variety corresponds to 
the popular description of C. canescens by Agardh, and to 
the C. curtain Rees’ Cyc. and Pers. Yet all these authors, 
except Rees’ Cyc. consider with Willd. both plants to be 
one species.- The description would be simplified by the 
following character of one variety, viz. mature spikelets sil- 
very white. ibe 
13. C. scoparia. Schk. 
Muh. Pursh. Eaton and Pers. 
-Schk. tab. Xxx. fig. 175. 
C. leporina? Mx. 
Spiculis alternis ovatis sessilibus superne foemineis quinis, 
infima bracteata, bractea decidua; capsula lanceolata nervo- 
sa glabra erecta, squama lanceolata acuminata longior. 
— Culm 18—24 inches high, leafy, and scabrous above ; 
leaves linear, narrow, shorter than the culm; spikelets 5—10, 
generally 5—7, approximate, sometimes very much aggre- 
gated into a club-form head, the lowest with a leafy bract 
sometimes longer than the culm and deciduous, and the 
three lower spikes often with short bracts also; fruit Jan- 
ceolate, slightly ovate at the base, about 9. nerved, mar- 
gined, scabrous on the upper half, and two toothed, slightly 
tawney and whitish on the edges, a little longer than the 
lanceolate acuminate tawney scale. Stigmas 2. 
Flowers in May—grows in moist and wet situations, and 
is readily distinguished in July by its tawney spikelets. 
From C. straminea, it differs materially in the shape of its 
fruit and the general appearance of the spikelets. 
