CYPERACE^. 109 



narrowed at the base, lenticular, smooth, indistinctly nerved on the 

 face, finely 3- to 5-nerved on the back, pale glaucous green, rather 

 gradually narrowed into a very short smooth entire pale-bro-\vn point 

 representing the beak. Stigmas 2. Nut pale yellowish, oblong- 

 obovatc, obtuse, plano-convex. 



In ditches and wet places. Rare, or at least very local, though 

 widely distributed in England ; most frequent in the Fens. Said in 

 the " Cybele Hibernica " to be frequent throughout Ireland, from 

 whence I have specimens from Lough Gall, co. Armagh, collected by 

 Mr. A. G. More. 



England, Ireland. Perennial. Spring. 



Stems 18 inches to 3 feet high, growing in dense tufts. Leaves ^ 

 to i inch broad. Male spike 11 to 2 inches long, sometimes with a 

 second shorter male spike a little way below it; female spikes 1 to 2 

 inches long. Fruit ^ inch long, usually stained mth purplish black 

 at the base. Auricles of the bracts adnate, resembling a short sheath 

 spUt open down the front to the base. 



C. stricta, the first of the group of Carices with completely unisexual 

 spikes and 2 stigmas, is readily distinguished when growing by the 

 large tussocks wliich it forms, inferior in size only to those of C. pani- 

 culata. In the dried state it may be distinguished by its split and 

 filamentous-edged sheaths, the lower ones destitute of leaves. The 8- 

 rowed spikes distinguish it from C. acuta, which approaches it in size. 



Following the law of priority, C. stricta is an inadmissible name for 

 the present species, because it had been applied by Lamarck to an 

 American plant a few years before Dr. Goodenough used it as a 

 designation of the European one. However, as European botanists 

 almost universally concur in calling the European plant C. stricta, 

 it seems better to retain the name for it, and designate the American 

 by the name C. angustata, given to it by Dr. Boott. Dr. Wimmer's 

 name for the European plant of C. gracilis has not been adopted in 

 any standard work, and is besides open to the objection that it 

 had been previously used by Curtis as the designation of C. acuta. 

 And., and though not retained as a specific name has been applied 

 to several diflerent species of Carex. 



Tufted Sedge. 



French, Carex raide. German, Steife Segge. 



SPECIES XXVn.— C AREX ACUTA. " Linn." And. 



Plate MDCXXXIX. 



Reich. Ic. Fl. Germ, et Helv. Vol. VIII. Tab. CCXXI. and CCXXn. 



BlUot, Fl. Gall, et Germ. Exsicc. No. 2567. 



C. gracilis, Curt. Fl. Lond. Fasc. iv. Tab. LXII. 



Rootstock casspitose, with or without elongate stolons. Stem erect 



