142 EXni.ISII BOTANY. 



rather distantly ribbed, quite .sinootb, dim, bright green, insensibly- 

 narrowed into a very short slightly deflexed entire very small- and 

 membranous-mouthed beak, not one-fourth as long as the rest of the 

 fruit. Stigmas 3. Nut pale yellow, stipitate, oblong-oval, triquetrous, 

 abruptly acuminated into a very short apiculus, loosely covered by 

 the perigyuium. 



In woods and thickets. Rare, but widely distributed in England, 

 extending from Somerset, Dorset, Isle of Wight, and Kent, north to 

 Chester and York. Not known to occur in Scotland. Very rare 

 and local in Ireland, but widely distributed. 



England, Ireland. Perennial. Early Summer. 



Rootstock with rather thick short creeping branches, at the apex of 

 Avhich small tufts are formed. Flowering stems 1 to 3 feet high, 

 hollow, witli a few leafless pointed sheaths at the base, and above these 

 lamina-bearing sheaths at regular intervals passing insensibly into 

 the bracts. Longest stem leaves 3 to 8 inches long by f inch broad; 

 top of the sheath with two small scarious lobes on the side opposite 

 the lamina. Leaves of the barren shoots 1 foot to 18 inches long by 

 f to f inch wide, resembling the leaves of Carex Pseudo-cyperus. 

 Male spike H to 2 inches long. Longest female spikes 2 to 3 inches 

 long, with a stalk about half of which is exserted in the lower spikes, 

 but in the middle ones it is nearly wholly included in the sheath of 

 the bract, and in the uppermost spikes is very short ; the bracts of the 

 uppermost spikes are split to the base, and have no foliaceous lamina. 

 Fruit about -J- inch long, I'esembling that of the Tenues section, but 

 strongly ribbed. 



Loose-spiked Wood Sedge. 



French, Carex a ejns groles. German, Sclilanltdrirje Seggc. 



SPECIES XLIX— CAREX DEPAUPERATA. Good. 



Plate MDCLXIV. 



Beich. Ic. Fl. Germ, et Holv. Vol. VIII. Tab. CCLVI. Fig. 625. 

 Billot, Fl. Gall, et Germ. Exsicc. No. 685. 



Rootstock subca?spitose, with shortly creeping thick branches, each 

 of which produces several floAvering stems and barren shoots from its 

 apex. Stem erect, at length slightly drooping at the apex, slender, 

 weak, trigonous, smooth and leafy throughout. Leaves shorter than 

 the stem, firm, linear, those of the barren shoots and at the base of the 

 flowering stem longer but very little broader than those on the stem, 

 flat, rough on the ribs above and on the margins, green, not glaucous. 

 Male spike 1, more or less conspicuously stalked, linear-cylindrical, 

 narrowed at the base, with long oblong-lanceolate obliquely truncate 



