NOTES ON CAREX FLAVA AND ITS ALLIES 



I— A SEDGE NEW TO THE BRITISH ISLES* 



By Elizabeth W. Davies 



University College of Leicester 



A sedge known to Scandinavian botanists as C. pulchella (Lonnr.) Lindman was 

 recognised in Scotland during the summer of 1952. This name is now found to be invalid 

 owing to the existence of an earlier homonym, and the new name chosen is C. scandinavica 

 E. W. Davies. A description of the species follows. 



Carex scandinavica E. W. Davies, nom. nov. 



C. oederi Ehrh. subsp. pulchella Lonnroth, 1854, Ohs. Crit. PL Suec, 24. 



C. pulchella (Lonnr.) Lindman, 1918, Svensk Fanerogamflora, 152; non Berggr. 



A tufted glabrous perennial, (2-) 10-15 (-25) cm. high. Stems trigonous, smooth. 

 Leaves 0-5-2 mm. wide, inrolled, channelled, dark green, usually shorter than the stems; 

 ligule 1-2 mm., triangular or rounded. Lower sheaths often dark brown becoming 

 fibrous. Male spike 1, 2-20 X 1-2 mm., usually with a short peduncle. Male glumes 

 3-4 mm., ovate or oblong, acute or obtuse, brown with a pale midrib. Female spikes 

 2-3 (-5), 3-10 X 3-5 mm., somewhat distant, rarely contiguous, sessile, or the lower shortly 

 peduncled. Lower bracts leaf-like, spreading, usually shorter than the inflorescence, 

 sheathing. Female glumes 2-3 mm., ovate, subacute, keeled, dark brown, with a pale 

 or green midrib. Perigynia (1-0-) 1 •5-2-5 mm., straight, feebly 2-3-ribbed, greyish 

 green, very abruptly contracted into the short (0-25 mm.) beak. Nuts 1-5 mm., obovoid- 

 trigonous, completely filling the perigynia. Fl. 5-7. Fr. 6-8. 



This species, hitherto known only from N. Russia, Finland and Scandinavia, was 

 first recognised in Britain during the summer of 1952, from one inland and four maritime 

 localities in north-western Scotland, where it appears to replace the closely allied C. 

 serotina Merat (see distribution map, fig. 2.) The main characters distinguishing these 

 two species, which have the same chromosome number (2n = 70), are given below. 



Characters C. serotina Merat C. scandinavica E. W. Davies 



1878. 



(Plate 5a) 



(Plate 3h) 



1. Leaves 



1-5-3 mm. wide, canaliculate, grey- 

 green, usually longer than the stems. 



1, or sometimes absent, sessile, occa- 

 sionally female at the base. 



0-5-2 mm. wide, inrolled, dark green, 

 usually shorter than the stems. 



2. Spikes, a. Male 



1, always present, usually with a short 

 peduncle. 



b. Female 



(3-) 4-5 (-6), contiguous and sessile, 

 frequently crowded round the male 

 spike, occasionally the lowest remote 

 and peduncled. 



2-3 (-5), often separate, and somewhat 

 distant, rarely contiguous, sessile or 

 the lowest shortly peduncled. 



3. Bracts 



Lowest bracts leaf-like, upright or 

 spreading, exceeding the inflores- 

 cence. 



Lowest bracts leaf-like, spreading, 

 usually shorter than the inflorescence. 



Part of a thesis approved for the tlegrcc of PIi.D. by the University of London. 



