CAREX FLAVA AND ITS ALIilES— IV 



81 



Lastly, the only other British representative is C. scandinavica. This species has a 

 very limited and local distribution and is confined to northern Europe including 

 north-west Russia, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and western Scotland. 



There are two other non-British representatives which are so closely allied to these 

 species that they cannot be ignored. These are first C. dyrrachiensis Nelmes, a plant 

 discovered in Central Albania in 1935 by N. Y. Sandwith, and secondly C. mairii Coss. & 

 Germ., which appears completely to replace C. lepidocarpa in southern Europe (Italy, 

 South France and Spain) (Fig. 2). 



This account would not be complete without a brief mention of other members of 

 the group found outside Europe (Fig. 2). C. viridula Michx., with many characters 

 similar to C. serotina, is probably the best known and studied ally of the European repre- 

 sentatives. This species is locally abundant and widespread throughout the United 

 States and Canada, reaching California, Mexico and Alaska on the west coast, and extending 

 across the Pacific to Kamchatka, Japan and eastern Asia. 



Finally, there; are three species, about which as yet little is known, C. philocrena 

 Krecz. from Turkestan and Kashmir with characters intermediate between C. demissa 

 and C. serotina; C. flavella Krecz. from Russia, a plant which may prove to be a form 

 of, or even identical with, C. demissa] and C. cataractae R. Br. from the southern 

 hemisphere (S. America, S. Africa, Tasmania and New Zealand) a plant that in many 

 characters resembles C. flava. These species cannot be disregarded for, although so far 

 they have not been studied experimentally or cytologically, they appear on morphological 

 grounds to be closely related to the European representatives, and undoubtedly must be 

 included in this aggregate. 



The distribution maps and information given in the brief geographical survey of 

 this group are based on data obtained from Nelmes (1949), Senay (1950a, b, 1951) and 

 M. Raymond (1951); 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 Paris. 



I have pleasure in recording my gratitude to Professor T. G. Tutin for his advice 

 and encouragement throughout the preparation of these four short papers. I am also 

 much indebted to Mr. J. E. Lousley, to the Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 

 and to the Curators of the herbaria at Oxford and Cambridge, for generously lending me 

 material. Finally I wish to express my thanks to the Research Board, University College, 

 Leicester for the award of a scholarship during the period 1950-53, and for giving con- 

 siderable financial help towards my field work during that period. 



REFERENCES 



DAVIES, E. W., 1033a, Notes on Carex flava and its allies : I. A sedge new to the British Isles, Watsonia, 3, 

 66-OS. 



, 1033b, Notes on Carex flava and its allies : II. Carex lepidocarpa in the British Isles, 



Watsonia, 3, 60-72. 



KRECZETOWICZ, V. I., 1933, in KOMAROV, V. L., Flora U.R.S.S., 3; Leningrad. 



KUKENTHAL, G., 1000, Cyperaceae - Caricoideae, Das Pflanzenreich, 4, 20; Leipzig. 



NELMES, E., 1040, Carex flava L. and its allies, in WILMOTT, A. J., British floweriug plants ami modern 



systematic methods, 83, London. 

 NELMES, E., 1032, Notes on Cyperaceae XXVIII, Kew Bull., 1952. 67. 



RAYMOND, M., 1031, Sedges as material for Phytogcographical Studies, Memoircs dii Jardin Botanique de 

 Montreal 20, 10 



