CLASS XXI. ORDER II1.] CAREX. 1167 
nearly or quite sessile, erect. Fruit similar in shape to that of C. 
caespitosa, except with a short stalk at the base. 
Habltat.—Sumumit of the mountains of Scotland and Wales. 
Perennial ; flowering in June and July. 
29 OC. Gibsoni, Bab. “ Barren spike one, fertile, two to four, ob- 
long, narrowed downwards, lower shortly stalked; bracteas leafy ; 
fruit about one-third longer than the glume, lanceolate, gradually 
narrowing into a very short entire beak, with many nerves vanishing 
upwards; nut broadly obovate, rounded at the end, and shortly 
beaked.” 
Babington, British Botany, p. 340. 
“ Stem six to eight inches high, triquetrous, with flat or concave 
faces, rough at the top. Leaves flat, slender, slightly rough on the 
edges and keel. Bracteas without sheaths, lowest often overtopping 
the spikes. Spikes lax below. Glumes (scales) oblong, blunt, 
purplish brown, with a broad green band up the mid-rib, on the 
barren spike paler, obovate lanceolate. Perigone (scale) nearly twice 
as long as the nut, gradually narrowing from below the middle to the 
top, pale green. Nut rather longerthan broad. Root creeping.” 
Habitat.—Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire—Mr. S. Gibson. 
Perennial; flowering in June. 
30. C. aquatilis, Wahl. (Fig. 1412.) Straight-leaved Water Carex. 
Barren spike mostly solitary, three or four, nearly sessile, cylindrical, 
elongated, attenuated below, and often acuminated, with barren 
flowers at the extremity; bracteas leafy, without sheaths; stigmas 
two; fruit roundish obovate, with a very short entire point; scales 
ovate, acute; stem smooth, obtusely angular; leaves long, straight, 
narrow, linear; sheaths not fibrous. 
English Botany, t. 2758.—Hooker, British Flora, ed. 4. vol. i. p. 
336,—Lindley, Synopsis, p. 333. 
Root creeping. Stem erect, from one to two feet high, obtusely 
angular, smooth below, roughish above, finely striated, leafy below, 
and enveloped in numerous old sheaths. Leaves long, linear, narrow, 
erect, with a narrow tapering point, a glaucous green, rough on the 
margins and keel. Bracteas long, leafy, erect, without sheaths, and, 
scarcely auricled at the base. Spike terminal, compound, the ter- 
minal spikelet ajbarren one, and often accompanied with two other 
smaller ones, narrow, cylindrical, with oblong very obtuse dark 
brown scales, fertile spikelets three or four sessile, or the lower ones 
pedunculated, cylindrical, elongated, and often with the florets 
towards the base scattered, and at the top there are sometimes barren 
florets, scales ovate, obtuse, or somewhat acute, with a green mid-rib 
terminating below the apex. Fruit roundish obovate, smooth, pale 
green, with a very short entire point, longer than the scales. Stigmas 
two. : 
