MONOECIA— TRIANDRIA. Carex. 77 



with his ■perianth. Linnaeus called it a nectary^ which is 

 properly, in most cases, an appendage to the corolla. 

 The part itself is easily recognised in the flower, and 

 along with the seed constitutes the fruit, aiFording a 

 most clear and certain generic character, as well as 

 excellent distinctions of the species. 

 The roots in the genus Carex are, perhaps without excep- 

 tion, perennial, mostly creeping ; sometimes fibrous and 

 tufted only. Herbage grassy. Stem simple generally 

 with three, finely serrated and sharply cutting, angles, 

 without knots or joints. Leaves linear, pointed, flat, 

 roughish, with similarly cutting edges; their bases more 

 or less tubular and sheathing; membranous at the sum- 

 mit, often auricled ; the upper ones becoming hracteas. 

 Stipulas hardly any. Catkins one or more, variously 

 disposed and constructed in the different species ; solitary 

 or aggregate, in a very few dioecious ; generally monoe- 

 cious. In several the barren and fertile florets occur in 

 the same catkin, or in the same general spike. When 

 aggregate the catkins, or spikelets, being separately 

 bracteated, constitute a spike, rather than a compound 

 catkin. 



* Catkin solitary, simple. 



1. C. dioica. Creeping Separate-headed Carex. 



Catkins simple, dioecious. Fruit ovate, ribbed, ascending, 

 finely serrated at the edges. Root creeping. 



C. dioica. Linn. Sp. PL ]379. fVilld.v. 4. 207. Fl. Br. 963. 



Engl. Bot. V. 8. t. 543. Gooden. Tr. of L. Soc.v. 2. 139. Hook. 



Scot. 260. FL Dan. t. 369. Schk. Car. t. A./, 1. Ehrh. Phy- 



ioph. 6. 

 C. capitata. Huds. 402 j Mr. E. Forster. 

 C. n. 1351. HalLHist.v. 2. 183. 

 Gramen cyperoides minimum, ranunculi capitulo rotundo. DiU.in 



RaiiSijn. 425. Moris. r. 3. 245. 7i. 36. sect. 8. 1. 12./. 36. 

 Cyperoides parvum &c., n. 2. Mich. Gen. 56.f.32./. 2. 



In spongy bogs, not uncommon. 



Perennial. May, June. 



A span high at most. Root and herbage slender, smooth. Leaves 

 keeled. Stipula short, abrupt. Catkins linear, erect. Scales 

 brown, with a green rib and white edges. Jnth. whitish. 

 Stigm. 2. Permanent corolla spreading nearly horizontally, 

 ovate, ribbed at the outer side only, edged with fine serratures 

 in the upper part, scarcely notched at the tip. Seed triangular. 



