CAREX FLAVA AND ITS ALLIES— II 



71 



This subspecies is confined in the British Isles to calcareous districts including base- 

 rich marshes in the lowlands of Scotland. It is locally abundant on the carboniferous 

 limestone of the Pennine range, and on the oolite of the Cotswolds and Northampton- 

 shire; and fairly common in the fens and on the chalk and chalky boulder clay of S.E. 

 England (Distribution map). 



Fig. 1. Perigynia oi Carex lepidocarpa; left, subsp. lepidocarpa; right, ssp. scotica. 



(2) C. LEPIDOCARPA Tausch subsp. scotica E. W. Davies subsp. nov. Plate 6b. 



Similis subsp. lepidocarpa, sed culmis validis, rigidis, semper erectis, 8-30 cm. altis, 

 foliis 2-5-4 mm. latis, plerumque brevissimis, coriaceis; glumis femineis fusco-castaneis, 

 persistentibus ; utriculis saepe longioribus, 4-5 mm. longis, differt. Typus in Herb. Mus. 

 Brit. 88, Mid Perth : calcareous flush at 1,000 metres, Creag-an-Lochain, E. W. Davies, 

 4 Sept. 1951. 



A robust tufted perennial (8-) 15-20 (-30) cm. Stems stout, rigid, usually remaining 

 erect throughout fruiting. Leaves 2-5-4 mm. wide, usually very short, tough and fibrous. 

 Female glumes dark chestnut-brown, seldom caducous. Perigynia (4-0-) 4-25-4-5 (-5-0) 

 mm., often longer than in subsp. lepidocarpa (Fig: 1). Fl. 6-7. Fr. 8-9. 2n = 68. 



In contrast to subsp. lepidocarpa, this plant is normally confined to base-rich flushes 

 on mountains in northern England, Scotland and Wales, and is usually found between 

 660 and 1,000 metres. However, at Inchnadamph in West Sutherland it grows only a 

 few metres above sea level, together with many other high mountain plants (distribution 

 map, fig 2). 



The distribution map is based on data obtained from Nelmes (1947), from specimens 

 collected in the field, which are now preserved at University College, Leicester, and 

 from others seen at the following herbaria : Kew, Oxford, Cambridge and J. E. Lousley. 

 This shows a composite distribution of the two subspecies, and their intermediate members 

 of the topocline, but separate details of the localities and vice-counties of the two sub- 

 species not already given by Nelmes are listed below. 



LOCALITIES IN THE BRIllSH ISLES 



C. LEPIDOCARPA TaUSch subsp. LEPIDOCARPA 



V.c. 8. S. WILTS. : Bulford, 1941, /. E. Lousley. 



11. S. HANTS. : St. Clair's Farm, Droxford, 1952. E.W.D. 



12. N. HANTS. : marsh near Greywell Waterworks, 1936, /. E. Lousley. 



22. BERKS. : CothiU Fen, 1935, /. E. Lousley, Frilford, 1938, A.R. Claphaw; Cumnor, 1938. A. R. 



Clapham. 



23. OXON. : Latchford, 1938, A. R. Clapham; Eynsham, 1913, G. C. Dmcc. 



26. W. SUFF. : Market Weston Fen, 1936, /. E. Lousley; Redgrave Fen, 1933. /. E. Lousley; Hinder- 



clay Fen, 1933, /. E. Lousley. 



27. E. NORF. : Roydon Fen, near Diss, 1934, E. C. Wallace 



