CYPEEACEiE. 107 



this peculiarity; sometimes the fruit is reddish-brown, and very little 

 longer than the glumes. 



Close-headed Alpine Sedge. 



SPECIES XXV —C AREX BUXBAUMII. WaU. 



Plate MDCXXXVII. 



Reich Ic. Fl. Germ, et Helv. Vol. VIII. Tab. CCXXXV Fig 589. 

 Billot, Fl. Gall, et Germ. Exsicc. No. 1349. 



C. canescens, Linn. Herb. Hook. & Aiii. Brit. Fl. cd. vdii. p. 507 



Rootstock shortly creeping, with rather long stolons. Stem' erect 

 or slightly arched, slender, rather stiff, triquetrous, rough towards the 

 apex. Leaves nearly as long as the stem, linear, flat, rough on the 

 margins towards the apex, pale glaucous green; sheaths at length 

 split and filamentous at the margins. Terminal spike male at the 

 base, shortly stalked, subsessile or clavate-ovoid. Female spikes 2 to 4, 

 subapproximate, excejit the lowest, which is usually more than its 

 own length distant from the others, subsessile ; the lowest with a stalk 

 shorter than the spike, suberect, oval or oblong-ovoid. Lowest bract 

 foliaceous, not sheathing, about equalling the apex of the terminal 

 spike or a little longer or shorter, with 2 small reddish auricles at the 

 base; second bract also foliaceous, about as long as its own spike. 

 Glumes of the female flowers lanceolate, acuminate, acute or some- 

 times subaristate or ovate-lanceolate and cuspidate, purplish-brown, 

 with a broad white midrib and concolorous margins, as long as or a 

 little longer but usually much narrower tlian the fruit. Fruit erect- 

 ascending, substipitate, oblong-elliptical, abruptly narrowed at the base, 

 plano-convex, scarcely trigonous, smooth, indistinctly nerved, very 

 pale glaucous-green, with a beak reduced to a reddish-black 2-toothed 

 tubercle. Stigmas 3. Nut chestnut, frosted over with Avhite, oval- 

 obovate, triquetrous, abruptly mucronate, considerably shorter than 

 the fruit. 



On damp stony margins of lakes. Very rare. Discovered by Dr. 



D. Moore in 1835 on a small island called Harbour Island in Lough 

 Neagh, near Toom-bridge, Derry, which is still the only known 

 locality, as it has not been found elsewhere in Britain. 



Ireland. Perermial. Summer. 



Plant growing in tufts, which send out numerous rather long 

 stolons which produce barren shoots at some distance from the parent 

 plant. Stems 1 to 2 feet high, rather weak ; sheaths reddish, at length 

 splitting down the front, and remaining connected by numerous fibres. 

 Inflorescence l.V to 3 inches long, 'remninal spike .', to '; inch; the 



