Mr. W. 0. Priestley on some British species of Carex. 191 



I have been somewhat particular in detailing this fact, as 

 neither Hooker nor Babington distinctly notices it : the latter de- 

 scribes the abortive fruit without noticing the true one, and 

 hence, if a perfect specimen were under examination, it might 

 be believed to be another species. 



Many opinions have been expressed, and much has been writ- 

 ten, as to the identity of our British C. (Ederi with C flava. Sir 

 W. J. Hooker scarcely knows how to distinguish one from the 

 other, and Mr. Babington, at once decided, places it as a variety, 

 but at the same time adds some new species equally hypothetical. 

 If the arrangement of the spikes and habit of plant be regarded 

 as characteristic, I really cannot tell where to mark the distinc- 

 tion. I met with both lately growing in the same tuft, and many 

 intermediate varieties. The fruit in both is very much alike ; it 

 is the same shape, has a similar number of ribs, and the beak is 

 often curved in the lower part of a spike of C. (Ederi, while in 

 specimens of C. flava, where the spikes are distant, and every- 

 thing else is characteristic of flava, the beak is straight, or in 

 short, the fruit has not been properly or quickly enough matured. 

 The nut in each is identical. I have procured foreign specimens 

 of C. (Ederi, which agree with Schkuhr^s description, and think 

 it very probably may be a distinct species. The spikelets are 

 very different from those of the same age in flava ; the arrange- 

 ment of them does not vary so much in the two, and it seems by 

 no means a constant character that they should be approximated 

 in (Ederi ; but the fruit is different in form. It can scarcely be 

 said to be beaked, but is rather acuminate and cleft, while in 

 flava the fruit in the youngest state is remarkable for the length 

 of its beak. 



Seeing then that our species does not correspond with the 

 foreign C. (Ederi, I have been led to believe that C. (Ederi may 

 be a distinct species, but that ours is nothing more ihsin flava 

 stunted in its growth, and so better adapted for the elevated and 

 bleak situations where it is usually found. 



It is very difficult to say whether the Carex Bcenninghausiana 

 described by Mr. Babington, is a distinct species-from axillaris 

 or only a variety, and for the reason that mature specimens can- 

 not be procured. It has been cultivated in the Botanic Garden 

 of Edinburgh for some time, and Mr. M'Nab assures me that 

 the fruit has never become matured, while both remota and axil- 

 laris have ripened fruit. All the specimens I have seen in the 

 University herbarium and in Dr. Balfour's collection have unripe 

 fruit, and Mr. Babington's description is evidently taken from 

 one of these, as he is uncertain about the nut. 



I think it highly necessary to see a plant in all its* stages of 

 growth, before we create it a new species, especially if it has a 



