446 T. Holm — Studies in the CyperaceoB. 



the species appear in the old-fashioned sections : Mono-, Homo- 

 and Iletro-stachyce with the same distinction in regard to the 

 distribution of the sexes as once proposed by Linnaeus, and 

 regardless of "natural affinities." We are told that C. pauci- 

 flora and riijpestris together constitute one division '''' Rujpestres,^'' 

 because they are monoecious aud tristigmatic, while C. cejphalo- 

 jphora and Baldensis represent the '''' Bracteos(£^^ because their 

 inflorescence is capitate and subtended by leafy bracts, even if 

 the former be distigmatic, the latter tristigmatic; moreover 

 that G. inacrocejphala and curvula constitute the ''''CiirvuW 

 because both have three stigmata and a spicate - capitate 

 inflorescence. 



Almost a century after Liunseus had described the Carices, 

 the genus became divided by Beauvais^ in " Vignea^^ with two 

 stigmata and a plano-convex achsenium and ''Carex^^ with three 

 stigmata and a trigonous achsenium. As a subgenus or at least 

 as a section " Yignea^^ has been preserved, but not as a genus. 

 A third section became proposed by Tuckerman.f the so-called 

 " Yigneastra^^ including the Indicce, and these were cliaracter- 

 ized as possessing androgynous, ramified spikes and two or 

 three stigmata. This paper by Tuckerman actually contains 

 the first attempt in combining the Carices in natural groups 

 with names indicating the most characteristic type of each. 

 Tuckerman did, however, begin his new system with the 

 Psyllopliorcje, the monostachyous, and passed from these over 

 the Yignece and Yigneastra to the Legitiinm, somewhat similar 

 to the old method. And he omitted to write the diagnoses of 

 his groups, leaving the reader to interpret the affinities. But 

 in the appended "Annotationes " Tuckerman expressed his 

 views regarding the affinities of a few types, and he suggested, 

 for instance, that the PsyUophorcB might perhaps be referable 

 to the YignecB and Legitimm, that the Dioicm might belong to 

 the Stellulatce, the IScirpince to the Montanm^ and the Bupestres 

 to the DigitatcBi in other w^ords, Tuckerman had evidently 

 grasped the correct idea of eliminating the Monostachyce 

 altogether as a section and to classify them as lesser developed 

 types of the Stellidatm, etc. 



This same idea we find expressed, but much more carefully 

 worked out in the posthumous work "Symbolse Caricologicse," 

 published by Yahl under the auspices of the E.. Danish Acad- 

 emy (1844). The author, Salomon Drejer, with remarkable 

 skill undertook to treat the genus from a phyletic point of 

 view, and he defined the transition from the lesser developed 

 tj^pes to the more advanced in such a way as to overthrow the 

 older, artificial classification. The number of stigmata, the 



^In Lestiboudois' Essai sni* la famille des Cyperac^es, Paris, 1819, p. 22. 

 f Enumeratio metliodica, 1843, p. 10. 



