76 MONOECIA—TRIANDRIA. Carex. 



Herb floating, about half the size of the last, of a pale transparent 

 green, with nearly flat, or slightly channelled, leaves, not trian- 

 gular at the base. Globules of fertile^owers 2 or 3, alternate, 

 the lowermost stalked ; the barren one terminal, mostly soli- 

 tary. Cal. pale green. Stigma solitary, very short, ovate, pel- 

 tate, oblique, on a short thick style. Seed solitary. 



The form of the stigma clearly distinguishes this species. 



427. CAREX. Carex, or Sedge. 



Linn. Gen. 482. Juss. 26. Fl. Br. 963. Br. Pr. 241.^ Dill. Gen. 



165. t. 14. Mich. Gen. 66. t. 33. Lam. t. 752. Gcertn. t. 2. 

 Cyperoides. rouni. ^ 300. Mich. Gen. 55. t.32. 



Nat. Ord. Calamarice. Linn. 3. Cyperoidece. Juss. 9. Cype- 

 raceee. De Cand. 134. Br. Pr. 212. 



Barr. fl. numerous, aggregate, in one, or more, oblong, 

 dense catkins, their scales imbricated every way. Cal. a 

 single, lanceolate, undivided, permanent scale to each 

 floret. Cor. none. Filam. 3, rarely fewei", capillary, erect 

 or drooping, longer than the scales. Anth. vertical, 

 long, linear, of 2 cells. 



Fert.Jl. numerous, in the same, or more usually in a dif- 

 ferent catkin, very rarely on a separate plant. Cal. 

 as in the barren fl. Co7: a single, hollow, compressed, 

 ribbed, often angular, permanent glume to each floret ; 

 contracted, mostly cloven, and often elongated at the 

 extremity. Germ, superior, roundish, with 3, rarely but 

 2, angles, very smooth. Style 1, terminal, cylindrical, 

 short. Stigm. 3, more rarely 2 only, awl-shaped, long, 

 tapering, downy, deciduous. Seed the shape of the ger- 

 men, with unequal angles, loosely coated with the en- 

 larged, either hardened or membranous, permanent 

 coi'olla, both together constituting the fruit. 



A very extensive genus of the true Calamarice, distinguished 

 from all the rest, as from every one of the Gramina, see 

 V. \. 49 and 71, by the presence of a single-valved, 

 tumid, finally enlarged or hardened, glume, loosely in- 

 vesting the seed, about the proper denomination of which 

 botanists are not well agreed. I have hitherto called it 

 a tunic {arillus) as apparently belonging to the seed ; for 

 an arillus may exist without a seed-vessel. But Mr. 

 Brown's having met with it in some barren florets of 

 Carex acuta, unaccompanied by any pistil, invalidates 

 this opinion ; see his Prodr. v. 1 . 242 ; and I have now 

 termed it a corolla, which in this case is synonymous 



