Carex.] LXXXVIII. CYPEEACEJE. 495 



and Eussian Asia, and North America, as also in various parts of 

 England, Ireland, and southern Scotland. It is usually taller and 

 more slender and leafy, and the fruits are generally, but not always, 

 longer and less distinctly winged. [C. ligerica, Gay, is a more slender 

 form with female spikelets at the top, found in the Scilly Islands.] 



16. C. divisa, Huds. (fig. 1126). Divided G. — Eootstock creeping, 

 hard, and almost woody ; the stems usually short, but always more 

 slender than in G arenaria. Spikelets few and short, crowded into an 

 ovoid or oblong spike or head, seldom above half an inch long, all, 

 especially the upper ones, with several male flowers at the top. Styles 

 2-cleft. Fruits scarcely flattened, not winged, varying much in the 

 length of their beak. 



Chiefly a sea-coast plant, but found occasionally inland in marshes 

 and swamps, in southern Europe, extending eastward to the Caucasus 

 and Himalaya, and up the western coasts to the English Channel. In 

 Britain frequent on some of the coasts of England, but not extending 

 to the north, and only near Dublin in Ireland. Fl. early summer. 



17. C incurva, Lightf. (fig. 1127). Curved C. — Eootstock creeping ; 

 the stems not above 2 or 3 inches high, often curved as well as the 

 rush-like leaves, which are usually about the same length. Spikelets 

 3 or 4, closely packed into a broadly ovoid, brown head, each with a 

 few male flowers at the top. Styles 2-cleft. Fruits broad, rather in- 

 flated, tapering into a short beak projecting beyond the glumes. 



.A northern, chiefly Arctic species, in Europe, northern and central 

 Asia, and North America. In Britain, only on the sandy sea-shores 

 from Holy Isle to Shetland, but rare. Fl. summer, 



18. C. saxatilis, Linn. (fig. 1128). Russet G. — Eootstock creeping; 

 the scaly runners ending in tufts of leaves. Stems usually shortly 

 decumbent at the base, 8 inches to a foot high or rather more, and 

 leafy. Spikelets about 3 or 4, distant from each other ; the terminal 

 one or two cylindrical and small ; the lower 3, 2, or 1 female, ovoid, of 

 a dark brown, about 6 or 8 lines long ; the lowest on a slender stalk, 

 with a leafy bract at its base. Style 2-cleft. Fruit ovoid, inflated, 

 longer than the glume, with a very short point or beak. 



Limited to the Arctic and high northern regions of Europe. In 

 Britain, only in the higher Scotch mountains. Fl. summer. [This 

 includes G. Grahami, Boott, and pulla, Gooden., and is regarded by 

 many authors as a variety of G. vesicaria.] 



19. O. csespitosa, Linn. (fig. 1 129). Tufted 0. — A very variable species, 

 but (with the following G. acuta) readily known among all the British 

 species with distinct male and female spikelets, by the 2-cleft styles 

 and almost flat fruits. The rootstock has creeping runners, but the 

 stems are often densely tufted, enclosed at the base by the brown 

 sheaths of the leaves, the outer ones often without blades and worn 

 into ragged fibres. In dry soils the stems are scarcely 6 inches high, 

 and the leaves still shorter ; in rich swamps the stems attain 4 feet, 

 with the leaves almost as long. Spikelets 3 to 6, each from J to 1^ 

 inches long, the terminal one and the upper portion or the whole of the 

 next male, the remainder female ; the lowest usually shortly stalked, 

 and 1 or 2 of the outer bracts leafy. Glumes dark brown or black, 

 midrib often green. 



In pastures, meadows, and marshes. Common in Europe and Eussian 



