CYPERACE>^. 85 



Stiamfis 2. Nut yellowish-brown, elliptical-oval, acuminated at each 

 end, plano-convex. 



In meadows near the sea, and by the sides of brackish ditches. Not 

 unfrequent in the south and south-east of England, but rare in the 

 north, where it grows on the south-east coast of Yorkshire, the north- 

 east of Lincoln, and in Flintshire. In Ireland it is very rare, but 

 occurs on the side of a ditch in the marshes of the North Strand, 

 Dublin. 



England, Ireland. Perennial. Early Summer. 



Rootstock tough, black, extensively creeping, producing numerous 

 stems one before the other. Stems usually 1 foot to 18 inches high, 

 but varying from 3 inches to 3 feet. Leaves chiefly in the lower part 

 of the stem, slightly shining. Spike \ to 1^ inch long, each of the 

 spikelets of which it is composed with a bract at the base, the lowest 

 bract foliaceous and generally as long as the spike, sometimes much 

 longei', as I have seen specimens with it about 6 inches long : tliis 

 bract has brownish auricles at the base, and is very rough on the 

 edges and keel. Sjiikelets rather few-flowered, ^ to J- inch long. 

 Glumes with a more or less excurrent mucro, which often consider- 

 ably exceeds the fruit. Fruit ^ inch long, with a raised hue round 

 the margins. 



Bracteated Marsh Sedge. 



SPECIES VIII.-CAREX DISTICHA. Biids. 



Plate MDCXYII. 



Eekh. Ic. Fl. Germ, et Helv. Vol. VIII. Tab. CCX. Fig. 552. 



Billoi, Fl. Gall, et Germ. Essicc. No. 1565. 



C. intermedia, Good. Sm. Engl. Bot. ed. i. No. 2042; and Engl. Fl. Vol. IV. p. 86. 



Hook. & Am. Brit. Fl. ed. viii. p. 506. Kunth, Enum. Plant. Vol. II. p. 376. 



Beich. I.e. p. 8. 



Rootstock longly chordorrhizal, with elongate stolons. Stems erect, 

 tough, rather stout, triquetrous, rough on the edges in the upper 

 half. Leaves nearly as long as the stem, broadly linear, channelled, 

 vnth. triquetrous points, rough on the edges, deep green, not glaucous. 

 Spikes compound, oblong-ovoid or oblong-cylindrical, continuous or 

 interrupted below, with a setaceous or short foliaceous bract at the 

 base of variable length, but generally not overtopping the spike. 

 Spikelets 6 to 20, ovate and fusiform, only the 2 or 3 lowest with a 

 setaceous or foliaceous bract ; the lower and upper ones nearly wholly 

 female, and the intermediate ones usually entirely male. Glumes of 

 the female flowers lanceolate, acuminate, and very acute, orange-brown, 

 with paler margins and midrib, shorter than the fruit. Fruit yellow- 

 ish-brown, ovate-lanceolate, plano-convex, many-ribbed, with a very 



