Garex.] LXXXVIII. CYPERACE.E. 497 



the terminal one with a few male flowers at the base, or irregularly 

 mixed, not all male as in the Arctic G. 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 Norl h Wales, but not in 

 Ireland. Fl. summer, rather early. [G. 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. O. humilis, Leyss. (fig. 1134). Dwarf G. — 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. G. clandestina, Good. 



On downs and stony wastes, chiefly in limestone 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. O. digitata, Linn. (fig. 1135). Fingered G.—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. Fl. spring. [G. ornithopoda, Willd., is a variety with 

 distant female spikelets, and fruit longer than the glumes, found in 

 Derbyshire and Yorkshire. G. ericetorum, Poll., with the habit of 

 G. 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. O. praecox, Jacq. (fig. 1136). Vernal G.— Near G. pilulifera and 

 G. tomentosa, but with shorter, stiller 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. 



2 i 



