294 SUB-ALPINE PLANTS 



Schcenus ferrugineus L. 



A smaller plant, 6-12 inches high, with fewer and smaller spike- 

 lets of a rusty brown colour, whose bracts are shorter and barely the 

 length of the whole spike. Leaves much shorter than the stem, 

 very fine and pointed. 



Marshes and mountain bogs, usually in colonies. May, June. 



Distribution. — Switzerland, France, Central and Northern Europe. 



Rhynchospora Vahl. 



Several spikelets in one or more clusters, forming axillary or 

 terminal heads. Spikelets oblong, pointed. Glumes imbricated 

 round the axis, the lower and shorter ones without any flower. 

 Stamens 3 or rarely 2. Bristles 6 or more, shorter than the glumes. 

 Nut globular or flattened, tapering into a bifid style. 



A large genus spread over most of the globe, but with few 

 European species. 



Rhynchospora alba Vahl. 



Stems 6-12 inches high, slender, in iufts. Leaves chiefly radical, 

 short, and subulate. Bracts barely longer than the flowers. Spike- 

 lets nearly white, in a small terminal cluster, often with i or 2 

 smaller clusters on fine peduncles in the axils of the stem-leaves. 

 Spikelets with i or 2 flowers and several empty glumes below. 

 Bristles about 12. 



In colonies in bogs in the plains and mountains. July, August. 



Distribution. — Europe, except Mediterranean, Western Asia, 

 N. America. British. 



Rhynchospora fusca Alton. 



Rootstock elongate. Spikelets dark brown. Bristles 5 or 6, 

 barbed upwards, twice as long as the obovoid fruit. Very like the 

 last species except in colour. 



Bogs and marshes ; rare. May to October. 



Distribution. — Switzerland, France, England, Ireland ; Western, 

 Central, and Northern Europe. N.E. America. 



Carex L. 



Monoecious, rarely dioecious herbs, with Grass-like leaves, chiefly 

 radical or on the lower part of the stem ; mostly perennial. Spike- 

 lets solitary or several in a terminal spike, or the lower ones distant, 

 or sometimes forming a short compound spike or panicle. Glumes 

 imbricate. Male flowers with 3 or rarely 2 stamens, but without 

 perianth-bristles. Female flowers enclosed in an inflated sack or 

 utricle, contracted at the top, from which projects a style with 

 either 2 or 3 stigmas. Fruit a compressed or trigonous nut enclosed 

 in the perigynium. 



