cyperace.t:. '159 



Var. 3, lepidocarpa. 



Plate MDCLXXIII. 



runeh. Ic. Fl. Germ, efc Hclv. Vol. VIII. Tab. CCLXXH. Fig. 653. 



Billot, Fl. Gall, et Germ. Essicc. No. 2159. 



C. lepidocarpa, Tansch. Reicli. Ic. I.e. p. -29. 



C. OeJeri, Sm. Engl. Bot. ed. i. No. 1773, c.'c part. excl. descript. (non Ehrh.). 



Leaves commonly as long as or even longer than the stem. Male 

 spike usually subsessile or sessile. Female spikes 2 to 4 (usually 3), 

 all approximate, or the lowest a little remote, with the stalk wholly 

 included in the sheath. Lowest bract commonly exceedhig the male 

 spike. Fruit smaller than that of var. a, less narrowed towards the 

 base ; beak a little shorter than the rest of the fitiit, less deflexed than 

 in var. a. Whole plant smaller, and the stems usually much shorter 

 than in var. «. 



In marshes, wet places, meadows, and heaths. Common and gene- 

 rally distributed. Yar. 3 the commoner of the two, as far as my 

 own experience goes. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Perennial. Early Summer. 



Yar. a has the stems 8 inches to 2 feet high. Leaves about -} inch 

 broad ; sheaths of the stem leaves with a free scarious lobe at the top 

 broader than long, and truncate. Male spike i inch to 1 inch long. 

 Female spikes ^ to f inch long. Fruit | inch long, nearly flat 

 on the under side, curved nearly into a semicircle on the other, with 

 the long beak greatly bent down, which gives a very squarrose aspect 

 to the spikes. 



Yar. 3 has the stems 2 to 8 inches high, the leaves rarely more 

 than i inch broad. Male spike -\ to 4 inch long. Female spikes j. to 

 I inch long. Fruit J inch long, less narrowed towards the base, and 

 with the beak shorter and less deflexed, but all the diiFerences between 

 var. a and var. 3 shade so imperceptibly into one another, that it is 

 merely an arbitrary line which can be drawn between them. 



C. eu-flava var. a cannot well be mistaken for any other British Carex, 

 but var. 3 is very often confounded Avith C. Oederi (as the Rev. W. 

 W. Xewbould informs me was done in the original drawings for 

 " E. 13." ed. i. No. 1773), and indeed it is often difficult to separate 

 the two, especially in the young state. It has, however, the stems 

 thicker, the leaves broader and flatter, the female spikes less spread- 

 ing, more ovoid or even roundish, the glumes darker and more 

 obtuse, the fruit larger, more convex on the upper side, the beak 

 longer, more tapering, and always more or less bent downwards. 

 The colour of the fruit is at first duller green than in C. Oederi, and 

 afterwards a much more dingy yellow ; but these differences vary so 

 much that I have frequently seen-dried specimens wliich I hesitated 



