324 EXPEDITION TO JAPAN. 



Female spikes 5-7 lines long, 2 lines wide. Scales nearly all long-cuspidate, sometimes those 

 of the male flowers obtuse or merely apiculate ; the lower female ones often obtuse, and the 

 upper acute or acuminate, but in all with the green midrib long-excurrent. Perigynium with 

 its stipe (at first winged and T 3 o of a line long) 1^ lines long, half a line wide, towards the apex 

 transversely constricted, the membranaceous orifice slightly emarginate. Achenium T V of a 

 line long, T 5 ¥ of a line wide, oblong-triquetrous, produced at the base, obtuse, annulate, the 

 annulus surrounding the thickened base of the style. Anthers 3, fastigiate and sessile on the 

 apex of a common normal filament. There is a variety in the collection with only 2 or 3 spikes, 

 the male scales obtuse and muticous, the female scales obtuse, short-cuspidate, and somewhat 

 ferrugineous. In the 20th volume of the Linnasan Transactions I described, under the name of 

 C. Langsdorffii, a plant sent to me by the late Dr. Fischer, of St. Petersburg, as C. Japonica ; 

 and this I identify in the present collection. Having since had the opportunity of examining, 

 in the Hookerian herbarium, an authentic specimen of Carex leucochlora of Bunge, from China, 

 I am disposed to refer the Japanese specimens to that species. The Chinese plant, however, 

 has only three contiguous spikes, short setaceous bracts, and abbreviated culmeal leaves ; 

 a difference probably depending on locality, as Bunge found his plant " in montosis." The 

 variety above mentioned more nearly approaches Bunge's plant, but differs in having occasion- 

 ally only 2 or 3 spikes, very blunt and muticous male scales, and the lower female ones shorter 

 cuspidate ; the culmeal leaves, also, are longer and broader than in Bunge's specimen. But I 

 observe variations which lead me to consider it a variety only. The three anthers sessile on the 

 summit of a common filament, as observed in some specimens, exhibit a remarkable peculiarity. 

 Why Bunge should speak of his plant as allied to the C. distans I cannot make out. 



Carex puberula, Boott, (n. sp.): spicis 4 brevibus congestis sessilibus albido-lutescentibus, ter- 

 minali mascula, fceniineis 3, inferioribus longe bracteatis evaginatis ; stigmatibus 3; perigyniis 

 globosis basi productis conico-rostratis (ore subintegro) puberulis pallide lutescentibus leviter 

 nervatis squama albo-hyalina ovata acuta nervo viridi hispido cuspidata brevioribus. — Simoda. 

 Nearly allied to C. pilulifera, L. ; but differs in its nerved and much less puberulent perigynia, 

 its white hyaline and cuspidate scales, longer upper bracts, flaccid leaves, and weaker culms. 



Carex pisiformis, Boott, (n. sp.): spicis 3-4 remotis erectis stramineis, terminali mascula cylin- 

 drica, foemineis 2-3 oblongo-cylindraceis laxifloris inserte pedunculatis, infima brevi-bracteata ; 

 stigmatibus 2-3; perigyniis oblongo-ovalibus obtuse triquetris basi productis pubesGentibus 

 valde nervatis pallide viridibus rostratis (rostro basi demum tumido, ore hyalino emarginato) 

 squama lanceolata obtusiuscula vel acuta nervo concolori ssepe ultra apicem excurrente strami- 

 nea longioribus vel subasquilongis. — Simoda. Culm nearly 8 inches high, weak and slender, 

 striate, scabrous. Leaves flat, grassy, longer than the culm. Lowest bract surpassing its spike ; 

 the others shorter than the spikes, setaceous. Sheaths 4-7 lines long. Male spike 10 lines 

 long, a line wide, peduncled, straw-colored. Female spikes 4-8 lines long, 2 lines wide, 1 to 2 

 inches distant from each other. Scales of the female spikes straw-colored, and with paler or 

 hyaline margins ; the lower ones obtuse or truncate, and shorter than the perigynium ; the 

 upper ones acute, about the length of the perigynium, or a little exceeding it. Perigynium 1^ 

 lines long, half a line wide. Achenium f 5 of a line long, and of half that width, oval, trique- 

 trous, stipitate, pale, punctulate ; the base of the style remarkably bulbous and pisiform, deci- 

 duous. Differs from its allies in the longer and remote spikes, the exannulated achenium, the 

 bulbous base of the style, &c. 



Carex transversa, Boott, (n. sp.): spicis 4 approximatis, terminali mascula gracili cylindrica 



