558 CYPERACE,E. [Carcx. 



roush-edged, erect, various in length, tlie lowermost very short. Spilce an 

 inch long- at most, oC 3 or 4 alternate, somewhat remote or at least not crowded, 

 equidistant s/)ji6-to. Perigynes when quite ripe spreading in a stelliilale man- 

 ner, sessile, ovate, plano-convex, ribbed, tapering into a long beak, serrated along 

 its sharp green edges, the point very slightly cloven. 



This is one of .the smallest of our Carices, and bears a great resemhance to 

 the smaller forms of C. muricata, but may be known from that species, when in 

 fruit, by its fewer, smaller and rather distant, not crowded spikelets, more spread- 

 ing, less deeply cloven perigyne, and essentially by having the staininate florets 

 below the pistillate, not above them as in C. muricata; lastly, by the general ab- 

 sence of bracts in C. stellulata, except below the lowermost spikelet, and that 

 often very small and inconspicuous. 



14. C. curta, Gooden. White Sedge. " Spikelets 4 — 8 sterile 

 at their base rather distant or sometimes approximated elliptical, 

 bracteas very minute (except the lower one) , fruit erect broadly 

 ovate acute plane above slightly convex beneath subobtuse angu- 

 lar faintly striated longer than the glumes." — Br. Fl. p. 488. E. 

 B. t. 1386. Sclikuhr, Car. tab. C. p. 48. Host. Gram. Aust. i. 

 37, t. 48. 



In bogs and marshes, sides of pools, ditches, &c. Fl. "June. !{.." — Br. FL 

 E. Med. — Extremely abundant almost everywhere on Rookley moors, and 

 about the Wilderness, 1844. 



Herb of a pale delicate green, quite glabrous, slender. Root but slightly 

 creeping, with copious long slender fibres. Culms erect, about 12 — 15 inches 

 high, triquetrous, the angles very acute througihout ; roughish only at the sum- 

 mit, hollow and striated, leafless in their superior half. Leaves mostly shorter 

 than the culms, chiefly towards the base of the latter, few (3 or 4) erect, linear, 

 Jth of an inch broad, roughish on the edges and keel, scarcely paler underneath, 

 flattish, finely tapering and striated, on lung, white, delicately membranous 

 sheaths, in a great measure concealing one another. Spikelets from 4 to 7 or 

 even more (I counted 9 on one specimen), most commonly about 5. Perigynes 

 scarcely a line in length, soon lalling away, crowded into small ovate heads, 

 longer than the glumes, erecto-patent, imbricated, green or when quite ripe pale 

 tawny, substipitate, ovate, acute, compressed, plane on the inner face, convex at 

 the back, with several very distinct ribs on both sides, most numerous on the outer, 

 and in each most strongly marked near the base, the alternate ribs abbreviated ; 

 finely punctulato-striate under a high magnifier, tapering into a very short beak, 

 the point of which is quite entire (Schtuhv's figure gives it cloven), the margins 

 inflexed and rough with cartilagious serratures. Nut yellowish, ovato-elliptical, 

 compressed, tipped with the long style. 



15. C. ovalis, Gcoden. Oval-spiked Sedge. " Spikelets about 

 6 sterile at the base oval approximate, fruit as long as the glume 

 ovato-acuminate compressed plano-convex striated with a broad 

 membranous margin rough at the edge, the beak bifid." — Br. Fl. 

 p. 488. E. B. t. 306. Host. Gram. Aust. i. 39, t. 51. 



In boggy marshes on wet heaths and commons. Fl. June. Fr. July. Zf . 



E. Med. — Heathy ground between Quarr abbey and Ninhani, 1849. In mea- 

 dows near Newchurch towards Hasely, 1844. On Bleak down in several places, 

 particularly near the old gravel-pits, and not far from the notice-post, 1845. 

 Plentiful in moory ground between Perreton and Horringford, and profusely in 

 moist pastures about Rookley farm and the Wilderness, 1842. Frequent in many 

 parts of Sandown level, and abundant on the boggy parts of Lake common. 

 Ashey common. Stapler's heath. By the Medina above E. Cowes, Miss G. 

 Kilderbee. 



