SEDGE FAMILY 



541 



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

 keeled ; staminate spikelet spindle-shaped, £ in. long ; pistillate 

 spikelets 1 — 3, ovoid, sessile, small, close together, 6 — 10-flowered ; 

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

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

 April — June. Perennial. 



46. C. caryophyllea (Spring Sedge). 

 — A small, creeping species with 

 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. April, 

 May. Perennial. 



47. C. tomentdsa (Downy-fruited 

 Sedge), known only from Marston 

 Maisey, Wiltshire. Root-stock creep- 

 ing; stem slender, erect, J 2 — 18 in. 

 high ; leaves narrow, erect, short ; 

 staminate spikelet terminal, about an 

 inch long ; pistillate spikelets 1 or 2, 

 at some distance, oblong, erect, 

 nearly sessile, \ in. long, compact ; 

 lower bracts leafy ; glumes small, 

 brown ; styles 3-cleft ; fruit small, 

 globose, with copious white down. — 

 Wet meadows. — Fl. June, July. 

 Perennial. 



48. C. paUescens (Pale Sedge).— 

 Stems tufted, without runners, leafy 

 at the base, 1 — 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; common. — Fl. June, 

 July. Perennial. 



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

 with runners ; steins 1 — 2 feet high, smooth, leafy ; leaves rather 



cXrex pan'ICEA {Carnation-grass). 



