CTPEBACE.E. 567 



37. Carnation Cares. Carex panicea, Linn. 



(Eng. Bot. t. 1505. Carnation-grass.') 

 Stems tufted, but emitting creeping runners from the base, 1 to 1^ feet 

 high, with ratlier short, erect, flat leaves, more or less glaucous. Spikelets 

 usually 3, the terminal one male, the others female, distant, erect, stalked, 

 cylindrical, i to 1 inch long, often loosely imbricated ; the flowers, especially 

 in the lowest one, at some distance from each other. Bracts shortly leafy, 

 with rather long sheaths. Glumes brown. Styles 3-cleft. Prviits ovoid, 

 without ribs except the 3 angles, obtuse, with a very short beak or point, 

 like those of the glaucous C, from which plant this species differs chiefly 

 in the more erect, loose female spikelets, and in the male spikelet always 

 solitary. 



In meadows and moist pastures, one of the commonest species through- 

 out Europe and Russian Asia, occurring also in North America. Common 

 in Britain. Fl. early summer. An alpine variety, not uncommon in high 

 northern latitudes, and at considerable elevations in the mountains of 

 central Europe, with the sheaths of the bracts looser, the spikelets darker 

 coloured and few-flowered, and the fruits more decidedly tapering into a 

 beak, has been distinguished as a species, under the name of C. vaginata 

 {C. Mielichoferi, Eng. Bot. t. 2293, C. phmostachya, Suppl. t. 2731). It 

 occurs in some of the Highlands of Scotland. 



38. Capillary Carex. Carex capillaris^ Linn. 



(Eng. Bot. t. 2069.) 



Stems slender, densely tufted, without creeping runners, 3 or 4 to 8 

 or 9 inches high, longer than the leaves. Terminal spikelets male, and 

 small. Female spikelets 2 or 3, much lower down, but on long, thread- 

 like peduncles, so as sometimes to exceed the male, of a rather pale 

 colour, loose-flowered, but seldom 6 lines long. Bracts shortly leafy, the 

 lower one with a rather long sheath. Glumes very scarious on the edges. 

 Styles 3-cleft. Fruits 10 or 12 in each spikelet, tapering into a pointed 

 beak. 



In alpine meadows, and on moist rocks, in northern and Arctic Eu- 

 rope and Asia, in the high ranges of central and southern Europe to 

 the Caucasus, and in North America. Frequent in the Scotch Highlands. 

 Fl. summer. 



39. Mud Carex. Carex limosa, Linn, 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 2043, and C. irrigua, Suppl. t. 2895.) 



Eootstock creeping. Stem slender, from 3 inches to a foot high, with 

 narrow leaves, sometimes as long as the stem, sometimes much shorter. 

 Terminal male spikelet ^ to near 1 inch long. Females 1 or 2, on slender 

 stalks, drooping, rather loose, 6 to 8 lines long. Bracts leafy, without 

 sheaths, or with a short, scarious one. Glumes rather dark-brown, ovate, 

 the upper ones pointed. Styles 3-cleft. Fruits rather large, roundisli, 

 compressed, scarcely pointed, and not distinctly beaked. 



In bogs and mountain marshes, in northern and Arctic Europe, Russian 

 Asia, and North America, and in the higher ranges of central Europe. In 

 Britain, chiefly hi Scotland, Irelixnl, and northern England. Fl. summer. 

 The C. rariflora (Eng. Bot. t. 251B) is a high northern or Arctic variety, 

 with the glumes almost black, and more obtuse, and only 5 or 6 fruits in 

 each spikelet. It occurs, but rarely, in the Scotch Highlands. 



