572 CYPEEACE^. iCarex. 



and deeply many-ribbed, the marginal rib on each side stouter, darker and more 

 prominent, continued into ihe moderately long rather broad beak, that is cloven 

 with slender, acute, slightly Sjireading points, sometimes armed, as is the beak 

 itself, with a few remote spinules. Nut nearly filling the cavity, pale yellow, 

 ovato-elliptical, triquetrous, finely punctate, tipped with the style. 



" ** Fruit downy or hairy'' — Bab. Man. 



■31. G. xiracox, Jacq. Vernal Sedge. " Barren spikelet solitary, 

 fertile 1 — 3 oblong approximate sessile or the length of the 

 sheath, lowermost sheath short (scarcely any), lower bracteas 

 leafy short, glumes broadly ovato-acuminate, fruit downy obovato- 

 oblong scarcely acuminate truncated at the point trigonous the 

 sides nearly flat, root creeping." — Br. Fl. p. 503. E. B. t. 1099. 

 Jacg. Fl. Aust. V. 23 t. 446 (bona). Host. Gram. Aust. i. 51, t. 68, 

 (melior). 



Tn dry meadows and pastures ; frequent. Fl. April, May. If. 



U. Med. — Oa the Dover, Byde, sparingly, 1842. Field by the short cut be- 

 tween Oakfield and the Brading road. 



W. Med. — Plentiful on the downs betwixt Calbourne and Brixton, 1846. On 

 the sandy heaths betwixt Shorwell and Kingston, abundantly, 1846. 



A small species, usually but a lew inches high, but conspicuous at the latter 

 end of April and in May by its bright yellow anthers. Root fibrous, creeping 

 with long jointed runners. Culm erect or a little ascending at the base, from 3 

 or 4 to 6 or 8 inches or even a foot in height, slender, pale green, quite smooth 

 and glabrous, except a slight roughness just below the summit, bluntly triquetrous, 

 one of the faces often flatter than the rest, naked excepting at the bottom, where 

 it is sheathed by a few leaves. Leaves numerous, tufted, mostly shorter than the 

 culm, and chiefly at and near the base of the latter, bright grass-green, glabrous, 

 firm and somewhat rigid, taper-pointed, flattish, prominently and acutely keeled 

 beneath, rough at their more or less spreading or recurved extremities, very nar- 

 row, not much above a line in breadth. Bracts small, erect, the lowermost foli- 

 aceous, with a short close sheath, about the length of the flower-stalk. Staminate 

 spike solitary, terminal, longer than the pistillate, elliptical or when in flower ob- 

 tuse and clavate; its ^/tmies oblong-elliptical. ^niAers bright straw-yellow, linear, 

 not apiculated. Pistillate spikes about two immediately below the staminate, 

 close together, sometimes with a distant one near the base of the culm on a long 

 stalk; their scales darker, more ovate, and with longer points than in the stami- 

 nate spikes, and having mostly a few barren florets at their summits. 



89. C. pilulifera, L. Round-headed Sedge. Sheaths none, 

 bracteas small subfoliaceous, fertile spikes sessile roundish ap- 

 proximate, their scales mucronate, fruit ovato-globose pointed 

 downy, stem weak. E. B. t. 885. Br. Fl. p. 504. Host. Gram. 

 Aust. iv. 47, t. 84. C. montana, L. G. filiformis, Fl. Dan. t. 

 1048. 



In moist woods and heathy places ; rare ? Fl. April, May. If. 



E. Med. — Plentiful in New copse, between Ryde and Wootton bridge, 1840. 

 Common on the turf-walks at Apse castle, 1841. On Lake common. 



Root of many brown shaggy fibres, scarcely creeping, but forming dense tufts, 

 from which the culms spread in a circular form to a foot or 18 inches in diame- 

 ter. Culms 6 inches to upwards of a foot in height, extremely weak and slender, 

 curved and inclining, triangular, a little rough towards the summit only. Leaves 

 numerous, shorter than the culm (except the persistent ones of the preceding year), 

 bright grass-green, about f th of an inch wide, rough on their edges, with long 

 taper points, weak and flexible. Bracts subulate, stifiish, the lowermost longer. 



