486 THE SEDGE FAMILY.  [Kobresia. 
VIII. KOBRESIA. KOBRESIA. 
Perennial herbs, with grass-like leaves, radical or sheathing the stems 
at the base. Spikelets sessile in a terminal spike, simple or rarely branched 
at the base, with a glume-like bract under each spikelet. In each spikelet 
the lowest glume encloses an ovary with a long trifid style, the next one or 
rarely two glumes enclose 3 stamens, and there is often a small rudimentary 
glume or awn terminating the axis. Some spikelets have only one glume 
enclosing an ovary, and some, near the end of the spike, have only one 
glume with 3 stamens. 
Besides the British species the genus comprises one or two from the 
continent of Europe. 
~]. H. caricina. Willd. (fig. 1107). Sedge-like Kobresia.—A low, 
Carex-like plant, forming dense tufts seldom above 6 inches high; the 
leaves radical or sheathing the stems at the base, spreading, and much 
shorter than the stem. Spikelets 4 or 5, short and brown, closely sessile in 
a short terminal spike. In each spikelet the lower flowers are female, con- 
sisting within the glume of an ovary with a 3-cleft style. The upper 
terminal spikelets of the spike, and usually one terminal flower of the 
lateral spikelets are males, consisting of 3 stamens within the glumes. 
Sometimes the lower spikelets are slightly compound or branched. 
In moors and wet places, in the mountains of northern and central 
Europe, the Caucasus, Greenland, and the Rocky Mountains of America. 
In Britain, only in a few localities in Argyll and Perthshire and in the 
north of England. FV. swmmer. 
IX. CAREX. CAREX. 
Herbs, mostly perennial, with Grass-like leaves, chiefly radical or on the 
lower part of the stem. Spikelets solitary or several in a terminal spike, or 
the lower ones distant or stalked, or rarely forming a short compound spike 
or dense panicle. Flowers unisexual, the stamens and pistils always. in 
separate glumes, either in separate spikelets or in different parts of the 
same spikelet, which is then called mixed or androgynous. Glumes im- 
bricated all round the axis. Stamens in the males 8, or rarely 2, without 
bristles or inner scales. Ovary in the females enclosed within a bottle- 
shaped or inflated sack or utricle, contracted at the top, with a small open- 
ing through which protrudes the 2-cleft or 3-cleft style. This sack persists 
round the nut, forming an angular or bladdery outer covering to the seed- 
like fruit. It is by some botanists considered as a perianth, but its analogy 
to that organ in more perfect flowers is very doubtful. | 
A very large and well-defined genus, widely spread over Europe, northern 
Asia, and North America, extending into the mountain-ranges of the 
tropics, and the extratropical regions of the southern hemisphere. The 
great conformity of the essential characters of the genus render it difficult 
to break it up into well-marked sections, and the main divisions are 
usually taken from the relative position of the male and female spikelets 
or of their male and female portions. These characters are readily appre- 
ciated when the plant is in flower, but-when in fruit, a state in which it 
is necessary to procure it in order to determine the species with accuracy, 
it requires some attention not to overlook the few male flowers at the 
