CYl'EUACE.E. 1 1 5 



(?) Var. y, Gihsoni. 



C. Gibsoni, Bah. in Ann. Nat. Hist. Scr. I. Vol. XI. Tab. V.; and Man. Brit. Bot. 

 ed. vi. p. 383. Uook. & Am. Brit. Fl. ed. viii. p. 508. 



Thinly cii'spitose (?). Glumes at least one-third shorter than the 

 fruit. Fruit acute. Nut longer in proportion to its breadtii than in 

 vars. a and S. 



In meadows and marshes, and by the sides of ponds and rivers. 

 Very common and universally distributed. Var. (3 in muddy places. 

 Var. y at Hedben Bridge, Yorkshire, now lost by drainage. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Perennial. Spring, Summer. 



A very variable plant, with the stems 3 inches to 2 feet high. 

 Leaves ^^ to J- inch broad, involute when dry, narrower than in the 

 other species of the section Aciitce. Female sj)ikes |- to 1 1 inch long, 

 variable in thickness, often with a few male flowers at the apex, in 

 shape generally resembling those of C. stricta, but forms occur in which 

 they closely resemble those of C. acuta or C. aquatilis. Fruit J- inch 

 long, variable in colour, but commonly green. 



C. Gibsoni {Bab.) I have not seen, but from the description it 

 appears to be a form of C. vulgaris with enlarged perigynia, such 

 as we find occur in C. disticha, Huds., and perhaps C. fulva. Good. 



In a marsh between Fitgobar and the Vicar's Bridge, Dollar, 

 Clackmannanshire, in 1839, I found a remarkable form or rather 

 monstrosity of C. vulgaris. This has the terminal spike androg3'nous, 

 with male flowers at the base and a few at the apex. The female 

 spikes short, contiguous, the fruit densely imbricated, shorter than 

 the glumes, which are acuminate-acute, and the lower ones cuspidate. 

 The plant has much the aspect of the dark-spiked forms of C. Bux- 

 baumii, ^Vahl., but it has the fruit and nut both plano-convex, and 

 the stigmas only 2. 



C. vulgaris occasionally simulates all the other f(.)rms belonging to 

 the Acuhe section, but has the leaves narrower and more decidedly 

 involute when dry than any of them. From C. stricta. Good., it 

 differs further in the lower sheaths not being split and filamentous at 

 the margins, and many more of those at the base of the flowering 

 stem furnished with lamime, also in the auricles of the bracts being 

 very short, prominent, and very dark in colour, and the fruit with the 

 ribs not extendmg to the apex. 



From C. acuta it differs in the stem being straight even while in 

 flower, the bracts with short prominent and dark coloured auricles, 

 the fruit adpressed, flat on the upper side, and the glumes usually 

 shorter and obtuse. 



From C. rigida it differs in its less rigid habit, much narrower less 

 shining and erect leaves, fruit less spreading and cons])icuou8ly nerved 

 at the base, and scarcely at all convex on the upper side. 



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