86 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



narrow wing on each side near the apex, graduall}' acuminated into a 

 serrulate bitid beak, nearly as long as the rest of the fruit. Stigmas 2. 

 Nut olive-yellow, ovate-elliptical, ])lano-convex. 



In meadows, and by the sides of ditches and rivers. Not very 

 common, but generally distributed from the south of England to the 

 Grampians on the east, and Argyle on the west. Not unfrequent, 

 and generally distributed in Ireland. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Perennial. Summer. 



Eootstock extensively creeping, sending up numerous stems and 

 tufts of leaves, often at considerable intervals. Stems 18 inches to 3 

 feet high, less Aviry than in C. divisa. Leaves extending farther up 

 the stem than in that species, broader, less rigid, and darker green. 

 Bracts shorter and narrower. Spikes f to 3 inches long ; spikelets i to 

 I inch long. Fruit rarely perfected, about ^g inch long : frequently 

 abortive, inflated, and then about |- inch long. 



Mr. Bentham considers this as an inland form of C. arenaria, but 

 he has probably not seen the perfect fruit, as a comparison of the 

 ripe fruits of this and C. arenaria render such an opinion untenable. 



Soft Brown Sedge. 



French, Garcx a deux epis. German, Zweizeilige Segge. 



SPECIES EX.— CARE X ARENARIA. Lhm. 



Plate MDCXYHI. 



Beicli. Ic. Fl. Germ, et Helv. Vol. VIII. Tab. CCIX. 

 Billot, Fl. Gall, et Germ. Exsicc. No. 1971. 



Rootstock longly chordorrhizal, elongate stolons. Stems erect in 

 flower, slightly curved, in fruit, tough, slender, triquetrous, rough 

 towards the apex. Leaves as long as or longer than the stem, broadly 

 linear, channelled, with triquetrous points, rough on the edges, deep 

 green, not glaucous. Spikes compound, lanceolate-oblong, continuous 

 or slightly interrupted below, -with a foliaceous bract at the base, usually 

 shorter than the spike. Spikelets 6 to 20, roundish-ovoid and fusi- 

 form, only 2 or 3 of the lower ones with a short setaceous or 

 foliaceous bract, the lower ones wholly female, the intermediate ones 

 female, with a few male flowers at the apex, the upper ones com- 

 monly entirely male. Glumes of the female flowers ovate-lanceolate, 

 acuminate and shortly mucronate, reddish-brown, with paler margins 

 and greenish midribs, equalling or slightly exceeding the fruit. Fruit 

 j'ellowish-brown, ovate -lanceolate, plano-convex, many-nerved, with 

 a broad green serrulate wing on each side extending from the middle 



