718 cLxxii. CTPERJLCE.R (C.B.Clarke.) [Carfaj. 



OToid definitely nerved glabrous (very rarely thinly minutely aetulose) beak 

 linear about as long as utricle [but see vars. I3, y.] Kunth MJnum. ii. 510; 

 Boott Carex, iii. 105 (vars. a and y) tt. 3U, 312; Boeck.m Linnsea, xL^;>^i 

 (). B Clarke in Journ. Linn. Soc. v. 82. G. meiogyna, JS/ees in WigM 

 Conirih. 123, var. |8 {Wight n. 1915. b.) C. oruoiata, Thw. Enum. mo 

 {partly.) 0. nilagirica, Hochst. ; Steud. Syn. Gyf. p. 207. 



Throughout the Khasia and Na&a Hills, alt. 1500-6000 ft.; NiL&HiEt 

 and Pdlnet Hills ; alt. 4-7000 ft. Ceylon ; Thwaites (C. P. 820, partly), &c.— 

 DisTBiB. China, Java. 



Glabrous, except the minutely hairy panicle branches. Rhizome very_ woody, 

 short (no long stolons). Stems 1-3 ft. Leaves often as long as stems, and in Xee»' 

 type rather broad (often ^ in. and more) flat, thin. Paniole usually more than J 

 stem ; partial panicles often very dense ; branches much slenderer than in 0. cruoiata 

 or eondensata. Fem. glumes commonly small, ovate, as long as utricle (without 

 beak), sometimes elliptic-lanceolate, glabrous or minutely hairy, chestnut in S. 

 Indian form, often paler or ferruginous in the Khasian. Utricle .^^ in., trigonou?, 

 fitting the black nut very closely, about 15-nerved, tapering or suddenly narrowed at 

 top; beak oblique, curved, subrecurved or straight, more or less scabrous-hairy, 

 mouth very small, shortly bifid. — Here are included tlie C. fiUcina, a, of Sees and 

 Boott, and the Khasia var. y pallida of Boott which has usually (not always) paler 

 glumes. The utricles in the Khasia plant are often shorter and more ovoid than 

 in the S. Indian. 



Var. meiogyna, Strachey Cat. PI. Kumaon 73 ; leaves often narrower, beak 

 shorter from | to i utricle. Duthie in T. B. Atkins. Q-az. x. 616 ; Boott Carex iii. 

 tt. 313-316. C. meiogyna (sp.) Nees in Wight Gontrib. p. 123 (only Royle, n 82). 

 Cvperns caricinns, Bon Procir. 39. — Prom N.-W. Himalaya to Bliotan, alt. 3-90OO 

 ft., very common. — Considered here as a stouter form of this (hs by Boott dubiously 

 and Boeckeler) with the same distribution is C. cruoiata, Nees in Wight Contrib. 

 123 (o only) ; Strachey Cat. PI. Kumaon, 73 ; Boott Carem ii. 319, 320 ; Duthie in 

 T.E. Atkins. Qaz. x. 616, also marked by Boott =G.ramosa, Schk. (a Mascarene sp.) 

 which it is near ; but it is nearer the true C. eruciata above, from which it differs 

 in the slenderer panicle-branches and spikes. 



Var. 7 minor, Boott Carex, iii. 10 i, tt. 317, 318 ; leaves very narrow, spikes 

 small pale densely clustered, glumes ferruginous, utricle very small, beak hardly i 

 utricle.— N. Sikkim ; alt. 7500-10,000 ft., J. D. S., &c.— A very similar plant is 

 found in Khasia, alt. 6000 ft., but with the beak of utricle much longer; it must be 

 a var. of 0. filicina, Nees. 



Var. ? ! microgyna ; leaves very narrow, spikes very slender, glumes very small 

 ovate obtuse dark brown, utricle very small fuscous, beak hardly i utricle. — Carex, 

 Wall. Cat. 3399. Kurg and Ceylon. Chittagong; Arraoan and Ava. 



52. C. plebeia, G- B. Clarke; leaves narrow, partial panicles 

 pyramidal slender, spikes brown, fem. glumes ovate acute scarcely muoro- 

 nate, style 3-fld, utricle (for tbe plant rather large) narrow ellipsoid 

 acutely trigonous strongly many-nerved hairy fuscoua-brown, beak scarcely 

 J length of utricle. 



Chota Nagpoee ; alt. 1500-2000 ft., throughout the province, C. B. Clarice. 



This may be esteemed another var. of C, filicina, Nees. It was in cultivation 

 in 1879 in the Calcutta Bot. Garden under the traditional name of C. bengalensis, 

 Roxb. It is the only Carex that Roxburgh would know at his old Saraulcottah 

 station, and the only species convenient for introduction at Calcutta. But Roxburgh 

 describes his 0. bengalensis as having come from Sylhet ; and it is probable that 

 Roxburgh would not have dilierentiated a low-level Khasia plant of G. eruciata, 

 Wahl. from C. plebeia. I have therefore thought it more convenient to reduce C. 

 bengalensis, Roxb. to 0. eruciata, than to introduce a great change in the names of 

 this critical group. 



