1182 CAREX. [CLASS XXI. ORDER IIt. 
very short entire beak ; stigmas three; leaves linear, flat, smooth on 
the edges, except near the apex ; root creeping. 
Babington, British Botany, p. 346. 
Fioot creeping. Stem slender, about a foot high. Leaves linear, 
broad, flat, smooth on the edges, except towards the apex. Spikelets 
ovate oblong, dense, drooping, dark purple. Scales longer than the 
fruit, purple. Stigmas three. Bracteas linear, broad, flat, auricu. 
lated at the base, and sometimes with a short sheath. Fruit pale, 
roundish ovate, lenticularly compressed, obtuse, smooth, faintly 
ribbed, beak short, obtuse, smooth. 
Habitat.—Spongy Bogs; Muckle Moss, Northumberland; Terre- 
gles, Dumfrieshire, Scotland. 
Perennial ; flowering in June. 
This species may be mistaken for C. limosa, but it is readily known 
by its shorter spikes and broader flat leaves, and smooth fruit, with its 
obtuse short beak. 
b. Fruit downy. 
1. Fertile spikelets sessile. 
55. C. pre'cox, Jacq. (Fig. 1436.) Vernal Carex. Barren spikelet 
solitary, with oblong obtuse scales; fertile one to three, approxi- 
mating, oblong, ovate, with oblong mucronate scales; bracteas awl- 
shaped, with a membranous sheath; stigmas three; fruit obovate, 
sub-triquetrous, acute, downy; leaves linear, glaucous; stem erect; 
root creeping. 
English Botany, t. 1099.—English Flora, vol. iv. p. 111.—Hooker, 
British Flora, ed. 4. vol. i. p. 342.—Lindley, Synopsis p. 290. 
foot branched and creeping. Stem erect, or ascending, from three 
to twelve inches high, slender, angular, nearly smooth, leafy below. 
Leaves numerous, linear, tapering, striated, a glaucous green, rough 
on the edges and keel, somewhat sheathed at the base. Bracteas 
short, awl-shaped, scarcely leafy, pale and membranous, sometimes 
sheathed at the base. Barren spikelet terminal, solitary, oblong, 
densely flowered, with oblong obtuse pale brown membranous scales, 
with a pale greenish mid-rib, fertile spikelets sessile, or nearly so, 
one, two, or three approximate, oblong, ovate, smaller than the barren 
spikelet, with oblong obtuse pale brown scales, the mid-rib green, 
rough, terminating in a bristle-shaped point. Fruit obovate, some- 
what triangular, acute, downy, green, with a short conical entire 
beak. Stigmas three. 
Habitat.—Dry heaths and pastures ; frequent. 
Perennial ; flowering in April and May. 
56. C. pilulifera, Linn. (Fig. 1437.) Round-headed Carex. Barren 
spikelet solitary, with lanceolate scales; fertile three or four, roundish, 
approximate; bracteas leafy, without sheaths; fruit sub-globose, 
acute, downy, with a short obliquely pointed beak; scales ovate, 
