Carex.) LXXXVIII. CYPERACEZ. _ 497 
the terminal one with a few male flowers at the base, or irregularly 
mixed, not all male as in the Arctic C. ustulata, which closely resembles 
this species in other respects ; the spikes entirely female or nearly so, 
stalked, erect when young, drooping when ripe. Outer bracts leafy. 
Glumes rather large, pointed. Styles 3-cleft. Fruits dark and shining, 
flat when young, very acutely triangular when ripe, with a short point 
or beak. 
A common species, in northern, alpine, and Arctic Europe, Asia, 
and North America. Not unfrequent in some of the Scotch mountains, 
and found also, but sparingly, on Snowdon in North Wales, but not in 
Ireland. Fl. summer, rather early. [C. ustulata, Wahlb., mentioned 
above, is included in some British floras, and in the ‘‘ London Cata- 
logue” on the authority of the late G. Don, who believed that he had 
found it in Glen Lyon nearly a century ago, but if so it has never been 
refound. | 
24, C. humilis, Leyss. (fig. 1134). Dwarf C.—Tufts short and very 
dense, with narrow, radical leaves, broadly sheathing at their base, 
and considerably longer than the flower-stems. These are from 3 to 5 
inches high, with a terminal male spikelet about 9 lines long, and 
3 or 4 much smaller female ones, placed at intervals along the stem 
-almost from its base, and, although stalked, scarcely protruding from 
the white scarious sheaths of the leafless bracts; the glumes of both 
the male and female spikelets are also scarious on the edges. Styles 
long and 3-cleft. Fruits ovoid, obtuse, more or less ribbed, and slightly 
downy. C. clandestina, Good. 
On downs and stony wastes, chiefly in hmestone districts, in central 
and southern Europe, extending eastward far into South Russian Asia, 
and northwards into most of the calcareous districts of France and 
Germany. In Britain, only in Wilts, Somerset, Gloucester, Hereford, 
Dorset, and Hampshire counties. fl. spring. 
25. ©. digitata, Linn. (fig. 1135). Fingered C.—A densely tufted 
species, 6 inches to a foot high, with short leaves. Male spike about 
6 lines long, and really terminal although exceeded by the upper female 
spike, which is placed close under it; there are also 2 or 3 other female 
ones rather lower down, all shortly stalked, longer than the male and 
more or less spreading, so as to give the whole spike a digitate appear- 
ance ; the flowers in each spikelet at some distance from each other. 
Bracts brown and sheathing, without leafy points or only a very short 
one. Styles 3-cleft. Fruits obovoid and minutely downy. 
In the woods of limestone mountains, in central and southern Europe 
and temperate Russian Asia, extending northward into Scandinavia. 
Rare in Britain, and only in the hilly districts of western and north- 
central England. Jl. spring. [C. ornithopoda, Willd., is a variety with 
distant female spikelets, and fruit longer than the glumes, found in 
Derbyshire and Yorkshire. C. ericetorwm, Poll., with the habit of 
C. digitata, has keeled leaves and smaller shorter crowded spikes. A 
native of dry banks in Europe and North Asia, found in Britain in the 
eastern counties on chalk-hills only.] 
26. C. preecox, Jacq. (fig. 1136). Vernal C.—Near C. pilulifera and 
C. tomentosa, but with shorter, stiffer leaves; the inflorescence is less 
compact than in the former, more so than in the latter, and the bract 
of the lowest spikelets forms a short sheath with a small leafy point. 
21 
