CYPERACEi^, 117 



trigonous-lenticular, not inflated, not ribbed, more or less roughened 

 with minute scales or dots, glaucous green or olive or brown, some- 

 times Avith purplish-black stripes or wholly purplish-black, abruptly 

 acuminated hito an extremely short deflexed entire point or beak. 

 Stigmas 3. Nut pale fown-colour, obovate trigonous, rather abruptly 

 apiculate, closely covered by the perigynium. 



Var. a, genuina. 

 Plate MDCXLIV. 

 C. recurva, Sm. Eng. Bot. ed. i. No. 150G ; and Eng. Fl. Vol. IV. p. 114. 



Female spikes cylindrical. Glumes acute. Fruit decidedly rough. 



Var. /3, Micheliana. Sm. 



Plate MDCXLV. 



Sm. Engl. Fl. Vol. FV. p. 115. 



C. Micheliana, Sm. Trans. Linn. Soc. Vol. V. p. 270 ; and Engl. Bot. ed. i. No. 

 223G. 



Female spikes cylindrical. Glumes obtuse. Fruit smaller and 

 suioother than in var. a. 



Var. 7, stictocarpa. D. Don 

 Plate MDCXLVI. 

 C. stictocarpa, Sm. Engl. Fl. Vol. IV. p. 127. B. Bon. Engl. Bot. Suppl. No. 2772. 



Female spikes oblong-ovoid or ovoid. Glumes acute. Fruit dotted 

 all over. 



In meadows, pastvires, and on dry hills, banks, and downs, open 

 places in woods, and on rocky ledges. Very common, and universally 

 distributed. Vars. |3 and y in mountainous districts : var. /3 was 

 received by Smith from Aberdeenshire, and var. y from Clova. I 

 have found var. y on Stuich-an-lochan, Ben Lawers, Perth. 



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



Rootstock extensively creeping. Stems subsolitary, from 2 inches 

 to 2 feet high. Leaves from \ to \ inch broad. Male spikes, which 

 are variable in number, with the terminal or longest one i to li inch 

 long; the lowest or longest female spike \ to IJ inch. The stalk of 

 the lowest female sjiike is usually about the length of the spike, those 

 of the succeeding spike shorter. The female spikes are not unfre- 

 quently male at the apex and sometimes compound at the base. 

 Fruit about J inch long, convex on the upper side, more so and bluntly 



