122 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



I have not seen Sutherlandshirc specimens. Are they not C. stygia, 

 Fries ? It is to be hoped that any botanist visitinsj Sutherland will 

 endeavour to clear up this point, ^'ery possibly C. irrigua, C. limosa, 

 C. styg'ia, and C. rariflora should be con.sidered merely as sub-species, 

 but the series of specimens in ni}^ possession is not sufficient .to war- 

 rant me in so regarding them. Of C. stygia, Avhich fills up the 

 rather wide gap between C. limosa and C. rariflora, I possess no 

 specimens at all. Should it be necessary to give a name to the 

 super-species, I propose employing that of C. pulchra, as C. limosa is 

 so completely restricted by modern botanists to one of the forms 

 only. 



Loose-flowered Mud Sedge. 



Group P.— DIGITAT.E. 



Rootstock ca^spitose, with or without short stolons. Spikes approxi- 

 mate, rarely remote. Male spike 1, shortly or very shortly stalked. 

 Female spikes 3 to 5, on short capillary stalks or subsessile, lax, erect 

 or stiberect. Glumes light brown or whitish with broad white scarious 

 margins. Lowest bract not foliaceous with a rather long closed sheath. 

 Fruit green, at length pale brown, finely down}', rarely glabrous,* 

 obovate-trigonous, not depressed nor inflated, with an extremely short 

 entire or nearly entire point or beak. Stigmas 3. Nut trigonous or 

 triangular. Flowering stems Avith leafless sheaths or with a few radical 

 leaves sheathing its base. 



SPECIES XXXV.— C A E, E X DIGITATA. Unn. 



Plate MDCL. 



Reich. Ic. Fl. Germ, et Helv. Vol. VHI. Tab. CCXL. Fig. 599. 

 Billot, Fl. Gall, et Germ. Exsicc. No. 870. 



Rootstock densely cffispitose without stolons. Stem ascending, slen- 

 der, weak, nearly cylindrical, smooth or very slightly rough immedi- 

 ately below the spikes. Leaves produced only from the barren shoots, 

 slightly recurved, flaccid, shorter than the stem, broadly-linear, flat, 

 slightly rough on the margins, dull green, not glaucous. Male spike 

 1, very shortly stalked, linear. Female spikes 2 or 3, approximate, or 

 the lowest one remote, on short included stalks, erect or ascending- 

 erect, linear-oblong, lax and 5- to 10-flo\vered, the uppermost one 

 overtopping tlie male sjaike. Bracts longly sheathing, with the sheath 

 closed below and shortly split at the apex, the lowest one with or 



C. nlba, SrojT; certainly belongs to the Digitatse. 



