MONOECIA— TRIANDRIA. Carex. 117 



remarkably firm and rigid. Stems solitary, mostly curved, 

 sometimes erect, from 3 to 6 inches high, ti-iangular, striated, 

 leafless, except at the base ; the angles smooth in their lower 

 part, rough upwards. Leaves numerous, shorter than the stems, 

 more or less recurved, linear-lanceolate, pointed, flat, broader 

 than in most of the neighbouring species, rough at the edges 

 and keel, slightly glaucous ; their sheaths permanent, closely 

 crowded, strongly ribbed, becoming bleached, and polished, em- 

 bracing each other. Bracteas leafy, lanceolate, recurved, about 

 an inch long ; the upper ones minute; sheaths none, though 

 there are generally two rounded brown auricles at the insertion 

 of each bractea. Fertile catkins 2 or 3, ovate-oblong, obtuse, 

 dense ; the uppermost nearly or quite sessile, close together at 

 the foot of the barren one j the lowermost at a little distance, 

 on a stalk half its own length, erect. Scales elliptic-oblong, ob- 

 tuse, pointless, dark-brown, with a pale yellowish rib. Barren 

 catkin mostly solitary, thick, obtuse, with rusty, obtuse, torn 

 scales. Stam.3. Siigm. only 2, nearly sessile. Fruit crowded, 

 elliptical, moderately compressed, obscurely triangular, smooth, 

 ribless, longer than the scales, pale green, the exposed part 

 brown ; the summit tipped with a very short, blackish, cylin- 

 drical, abrupt, entire beak, often scarcely discernible. Micheli 

 exhibits the occasionally recurved point of the fruit, noticed by 

 the Bishop of Carlisle. 

 The above synonyms evince that this species has not remained 

 unknown to foreign botanists, and that none of them ever 

 thought of confounding it with C. ccespitosa. Many have indeed 

 mistaken it for saxatilis, which the Linnsean herbarium shows 

 to be totally different. After such authorities as Mr. Hudson, 

 Mr. Dickson and the learned Bishop of Carlisle, my own opi- 

 nion in support of this species, formed when I gathered it 45 

 years since, and now confirmed, is perhaps superfluous ; nor do 

 I insist upon it from any disrespect for my valued friend Dr. 

 Hooker. 



50. C. cdspitosa. Tufted Bog Carex. 



Stigmas two. Sheaths none. Fertile catkins cyhndrical, 

 obtuse, erect; the lowermost rarely stalked. Leaves, 

 and auricled bracteas, linear, erect. Fruit permanent, 

 elliptical, flat, many-ribbed, with a very short abrupt 

 beak. 



C.csespitosa. Linn. Sp. PL 1388. Willd.v.4.287. FLBr.lOO. 

 Engl. Bot. v.2\.t. 1507. GoocZeji. Tr. of L. Soc. v. 2. 195. f. 21 . 

 /. 8. Hook. Scot. 268. Schk. Car. 57. t. A, a, andB,\).f.8b. 



Ehrh. Calam. 130. ■ • i 



Gramen caryophylleum, angustissimis foliis, spicis sessilibus bre- 



