T. Holm — Studies in the Cyperacece. 163 



a very graceful plant of which the habit seems quite dis- 

 tinct from that of C. cryptocarpa; moreover as pointed 

 out by Drejer the pistillate scales are aristate (fig. 2), 

 and the perigynium prominently nerved (fig. 3). Among 

 the specimens kindly presented to the writer by Chr. 

 Jensen and E. Rostrup we failed to find any which might 

 be referable to C. cryptocarpa, although the arista was 

 sometimes absent, being very brittle and easily broken off 

 by drying the specimens. 



Carex Lyngbyei appears thus to be a species charac- 

 teristic of the Faroe Islands, having never, so far, been 

 reported from any of the stations where C. cryptocarpa 

 vera occurs, neither from Iceland nor from the shores of 

 the Pacific and Bering Sea. 



To the diagnosis may be added that the terminal spike 

 is sometimes androgynous with a few (2) pistillate 

 flowers at the base (fig. 1.) 



Carex capillipes Drej. 



Known only from Iceland, and having been collected 

 only at a few stations, this plant was by Drejer considered 

 to represent a distinct species ; the several specimens 

 figured in Flora Danica (Tab. 2844) show us a plant of 

 quite a characteristic aspect, and very different from any 

 of the other Car ices known from Iceland, although leav- 

 ing no doubt of its proximate affinity being with C. crypto- 

 carpa. Nevertheless it is one of the numerous species, 

 which by Kukenthal (1. c. p. 364) has been reduced to 

 varieties or forms, in this case to a variety of C. Lyngbyei. 



Let us consult the original diagnosis written by Drejer 

 (1. c. p. 50) : 



Carex capillipes Drej. 



"Spica mascula 1, femineis 2-3 in pedunculo longissimo scabro 

 naccidis rarifloris; squamis ovatis acutis mucronatis perigynia 

 subovata superne margine scabrida superantibus, stigmatibus 2. 

 Island! Steenstrup. 



Kad. deest. Culmus triqueter superne scaber. Fol. margine 

 scaberrima. Spicse remotee, terminalis erecta, mascula v. simul 

 basi feminea, oblongo-lanceolata. Squamae fern, elongate. 

 Bracteag elongatae foliaceae culmum aequantes v. superantes 

 scaberrimse, evaginatae v. infima longe vaginata, vagina antice 

 membranacea. Pedunculus basi ocrea colorata instructus. 

 Squamae atro-fuscse nervo augustissimo dilutione scabrato ex- 

 currente. Perigynium lutescens obsolete nervosum rostratum, 

 rostro subintegro. Stylus cum stigmatibus intra perigynium 

 inclusus. 



Am. Jour. Sci.— Fourth Series, Vol. L, No. 296.— August, 1920, 

 12 



