CVl'EUACEj'E. 71 



witli pale edges; the two lower ones empty and larger, with green 

 ini(h-ibs, the lowest usually with a thickened midrib ending in a 

 callous point. Ilypogynous bristles 4 to 6, in fruit crisped and 

 twice or thrice as long as the spike. Nut minute, obovate, rounded 

 at the apex and mucronate, trigonous. 



In spongy bogs in mountainous districts. Very rare. Formerly 

 found in the Bog of Kesteunet, Forfar, but now lost through drainage; 

 a single specimen was gathered in Durness, Suthei'land, by Professor 

 IJalfour, m August 1827, aud brought home by him as Scirpus 

 cajspitosus, but it has not been collected in Scotland since that date. 

 Said to have been found by Mr. H. J. R3'der on the north margin of 

 Gui'thambra Lake, 3 miles west of Mill Street, co. Cork, in 1866; but 

 IMr. A. G. More sought for it there in vain in 1868, and Dr. D. I\Ioore 

 in 1869. 



Scotland (extmct ?). Perennial. Spring, early Summer. 



A small plant which, when in flower, bears a most striking resem- • 

 blance to Scirpus ca^spitosus, but it may be at once known from that 

 plant by its creeping rootstock, on which the stems are placed one 

 before the other, as in Juncus filiformis; ultimately the stems are 4 to 

 10 inches high; the spike, without reckoning the hairs, about ^ inch, 

 including them, | to 1 inch long. Nut very minute, dark brown. 



Alpine Cotton Grass. 

 French, Linaigrette cles Alpes. German, Gchirgs Wolhjras. 



Section II.— SERICOPHORUM. Reich. 



Spike soUtary, tenninal, without leafy bracts at the base. Hypo- 

 gynous bristles veiy numerous, straight. 



SPECIES II.— E RIO PH OR UM VAGINATUM. Linu. 



Plate MDCIV. 



Eeich. Ic. Fl. Germ, et Helv. Vol. VIII. Tab. CCLXXXIX. Fig. 686. 

 Bmot, PI. Gall, et Germ. Exsicc. No. 1.5G1. 



Densely caspitose. Rootstock not creeping, producing stems and 

 numerous radical leaves. Radical leaves wiry, narrowly linear, trique- 

 trous, shorter than the stem. Stems rather slender, cylindrical below, 

 obtusely trigonous towards the apex, with a tubular sheath, com- 

 mencing about the middle of the stem, or more rarely below it, swollen 

 and oblique at the apex, and without any laminae; basal sheaths with a 



