296 SUB-ALPINE PLANTS 



Swamps and peat bogs from the plains to the Alps. May, 

 Rare in Switzerland and common in the Jura. 

 Distribution. — Central and Northern Europe, Northern and 

 Arctic Asia and America. British. 



Carex dioica L. 



A slender dioecious species, 6 or 8 inches high, with creeping root- 

 stock. Leaves very narrow, setaceous, tufted and shorter than the 

 stem. Spikelets brown, solitary, the male spikelets being linear 

 and the female shorter and ovoid. Fruits ovoid, with long mucro. 

 Stigma 2. Glumes oval, margined. 



Peat bogs and marshes up to about 5500 feet. May, June. 



Distribution. — Alps, Pyrenees, Jura, etc.. Central and Northern 

 and Arctic Europe ; Northern and Arctic Asia and America. 

 British. 



Carex disticha Hudson [C. intermedia Good.). 



Stems 1-3 feet, leafy, trigonous. Rootstock creeping. Leaves 

 broad, flat. Spikelets in an elongated head, sub-distichous, 1-2 

 inches long, pale brown, sometimes compound at the base, the 

 upper and lower spikelets usually wholly male. Stigmas 2 ; bracts 

 small, never leafy. Nut ovoid, ferruginous. 



Wet meadows, marshes, and river-sides in the plains and sub- 

 Alps. May. 



Distribution. — Europe, Northern Asia, N. America. British. 



Carex leporina L. (C. ovalis L.). (Plate XXIL) 



Rootstock short, horizontal. Stems attaining a foot in height. 

 Leaves much shorter, about 3 mm. broad. Spikelets 4-6, sessile, 

 distinct, but very close together, ovoid, brownish green and glossy, 

 consisting chiefly of female flowers with a few males at the base 

 of each spikelet. Outer bracts like the glumes. Stigmas 2. Fruits 

 flat, winged. 



Damp meadows, pastures, and waste places from the plains to the 

 Alps. May, June. 



Distribution. — Europe and Northern Asia. British. 



The figure gives a young, immature state of the plant, 

 Carex stellulata Good. (C. echinata Murray). 



A small, tufted species 6-g inches high, with leaves rather 

 shorter than the stem. Spikelets 3 or 4, the 2 uppermost closer 

 than the rest, oval-oblong at first, but on maturity the long-beaked 

 fruits spread and give an almost star-shaped form to the spikelet. 

 The male flowers occupy the lower half of the top spikelet and part 

 of the base of the others. Stigmas 2. Fruit oblong, tapering 

 into a long beak, not winged. 



Marshes and peat bogs from the plains to the Alps. May, June. 



