CLASS XXI, ORDER III. ] CAREX. 1185 
distant, oblong, ovate, densely flowered, sessile, or the lower one 
pedunculated; scales mucronate or cuspidate ; fruit ovate, turgid, with 
a short obliquely truncated bifid beak, very pubescent; bractea 
leafy, with very short sheaths; stem slender, nearly smooth; leaves 
long, narrow, channeled ; root creeping. 
English Botany, t. 904.—KEnglish Flora, vol. iv. p. 128.—Hooker, 
British Flora, ed. 4. vol. i. p. 343.—Lindley, Synopsis, p. 292. 
Root creeping, the whole plant free from pubescence, except the 
fruit. Stem erect, one to two feet high, slender, obtusely triangular, 
smooth, except towards the top, naked above, leafy below. Leaves 
long, not wider than the stem, erect, channeled, striated, rough, 
sheathed at the base, and enveloped in lanceolate scales. Bracteas 
leafy, very slender, and without or with very short sheaths at the 
base. Barren spikelets two or three, seldom only one, narrow, linear, 
terminal, with narrow lanceolate brown scales, with a paler mid-rib, 
terminating in the point, fertile spikelets two or three, rather distant, 
oblong, ovate, cylindrical, densely flowered, the upper sessile, the 
lower on a short peduncle, scales oblong, obtuse, with the green mid- 
rib terminating in a point of greater or less length. Fruit ovate or 
oblong, ovate, turgid, with a short obliquely truncated deeply bifid 
beak, densely clothed with hairy pubescence. Stigmas three. 
Habitat—Boggy marshes, rare; chiefly in Scotland; near Yar- 
mouth, Cheshire, and Anglesea. 
Perennial; flowering in May. 
61. C. hir'ta, Linn. (Fig. 1442.) Hairy Carex. Barren spikelets 
two, with obtuse mucronate scales; fertile two or three, oblong, 
cylindrical, erect, the lower pedunculatea; scales oblong, with long 
rough bristly points; fruit ovate, with a long deeply bifid beak, 
hairy ; bracteas leafy, with sheaths as long as the peduncles; stem 
smooth ; leaves and sheaths hairy ; root creeping. 
English Botany, t. 685.—English Flora, vol. iv. p. 125.—Hooker, 
British Flora, ed. 4. vol. i. p. 343.—Lindley, Synopsis, p. 292. 
Root extensively creeping, and with fibrous radicles. Stems mostly 
tufted, erect, about two fect high, smooth or roughish upwards, ob- 
tusely angular, striated. Leaves numerous, broadly linear, with a 
long tapering point, striated, sheathed, and clothed more or less 
thickly with soft yellowish pubescence. Barren spikelets two or 
three, terminal, with brown obtuse scales, with a pale mid-rib, ter- 
minating in a short point, fertile spikelets two or three, distant, 
linear, oblong, cylindrical, rather loosely flowered, erect, the upper 
sessile, or nearly so, the lower on peduncles, as long as the sheaths of 
the leafy bracteas, the scales oblong, pale, membranous, with the 
green mid-rib terminating in a long rough bristly point. Fruit 
ovate, with a long beak, deeply cloven, clothed with roughish pu- 
bescence. Stigmas three. 
