SEDGE FAMILY 



541 



stems 2—6 in. high, stiff, curved, 3-angled, smooth ; leaves recurved, 

 keeled; siaminate spikckt spindle-shaped, i in. long; pistillate 

 spikelets 1—3, ovoid, sessile, small, close together, 6— lo-flowered ; 

 glumes brown, with a broad pale edge, very blunt, ciliate, as long 

 as the jruit. — Chalk banks in the eastern counties; rare. — Fl. 

 April — June. Perennial, 



46. C. caryophvllea (Spring Sedge). 

 — A small, creeping species «ith 

 runners ; stem 6 — 12 in. high, 3- 

 angled ; leaves short, keeled, curved, 

 densely tufted ; staminate spikelet 

 slender, erect ; pistillate spikelets 

 1 — 3, oblong, close together ; glumes 

 small, broad, with a distinct, fine 

 point, brown edges, and green midrib 

 as long as the ovoid, 3-sided, shortly 

 beaked and slightly downy fruit. — 

 Dry pastures ; common. — Fl. iVpril, 

 May. Perennial. 



47. C. tonientosa (Downy-fruited 

 Sedge), known only from Marston 

 Maisey, Wiltshire. Root-stock creep- 

 ing ; stem slender, erect, 12 — 18 in. 

 high ; leaves narrow, erect, short ; 

 staminate spikelet terminal, about an 

 inch long ; pistillate spikelets i or 2, 

 at some distance, oblong, erect, 

 nearly sessile, 5 in. long, compact ; 

 lower bracts leafy ; glumes small, 

 brown ; styles 3-cleft ; jruit small, 

 globose, with copious white down. — 

 Wet meadows. — Fl. June, July. 

 Perennial. 



48. C. pallescens (Pale Sedge). — 

 Stems tufted, without runners, leafv 

 at the base, i — 2 feet high ; staminate 

 spikelet terminal, light brown, about 



6 lines long ; pistillate spikelets 2 or 3, pale yellowish-green, shortly 

 stalked, erect or slightly drooping, oblong, shorter than the 

 staminate one and at short distances below it ; bracts leafy ; styles 

 3-cleft : fruit smooth, blunt. — Wet places ; co.mmon. — Fl. June, 

 July, Perennial. 



49. C. panicea (Carnation-grass). — A tufted, creeping plant 

 v,-ith runners; steins i — 2 feet high, smooth, leafv; leaves rather 



;.4rEX PANicE.\ {Carliatiofl g-rass). 



