Carex Gracilis. Slender Spiked Carex. 
CAREX gracilis fpicis mafculis et femineis pluribus, fubfiliformibus, floribus digynis. 
CAREX nigra verna vulgaris. Lia. Fl. Lap. 330.? 
CY PER Ol DES anguftifolium, caule exquifite triangulari, afpero, fpicis floriferis praelongis, tenuioribus, 
feminalibus autem fpicis biuncialibus, et habitioribus, erectis, (quamis brevibus acutis, 
caplulis fpadiceo viridibus, rhomboideis,' fubtriquetris. Micheli Nov. Gei. . p 00. 11. 40. 
GRAMEN cyperoides majus anguftifolium. Park, 1265. Raii /rjl. 1293. Syn. p. 417. n. 2. Great narrow, 
leaved vernal Cyperus-grafs. 
RADIX perennis, repens. t ROOT perennial and creeping. 
CULMUS in aquofis bi feu tripedalis, in pratis humilior, | STALK, in watery fituations two or three feet high, in 
foliofus, nodolus, triqueter, angulis acutis, af- ? meadows not fo tall, leafy, jointed, three cor- 
perrimis. | nered, the angles fliarp and very rough to tiie 
¥ touch 
FOLIA rad'Calia longa, viridia, vix glauca, lineas duas | LEAVES from the root long, of a green colour, fcarcely 
lata, ad margines et carinam afpera, vaginaiuis, f glaucous, two lines in breadth, on the edges 
b' aSta-alia linearrr cum dimidia lata, inferiore | and midrib rough, fheathing the ftalk, b acteal 
(florente planta) lpicis longiore. | leaves a line and a half in breadth, the Iower- 
% moll, while the plant is in flower, longer than 
I the fpikes. 
S PIC YE mafcul® et femine® diftind®, mafcul® plerum- % SPIKES, both male and female, growing diftindly, the 
que tres, e fufco nigricantes, graciles, obfolete | male generally three in number, of a brovvniih 
triquetrae, nutantes, terminalis bi uncialis, in- $ black colour, {lender, faintly three cornered, 
ferior duplo aut triplo brevior,, infima l®pius| 
androgyna, longior, femine® tres aut quatuor, | 
teretes, graciles, longitudine malculi terminalis, | 
leftlles feu breviter pedunculat®, (uberedi, ni- 1 
gricautes. f 
f 
drooping, the terminal lpike about two inches 
in length, the next below twice or thrice as 
lhort, the lowermoft for the mod part andro- 
gynous and longer, female three or four, round, 
(lender, length of the terminal male fpike, feffile 
or {landing on fhort footftalks, nearly upright 
and blackifh. 
Mas. I Male. 
SQUAMYE ovato-acut®, arde imbricat®, carinat®, e | SCALES ovate, pointed, lying clofely one over another, 
purpureo nigricantes, carina, fub viridi, fig,. i.| keeled, of purplifh black colour, the keel 
aud. I greenilh, fig. 1. magnif. 
STAMINA: Filamenta tria, capillaria, alba; An- ¥ STAMINA: three Filaments (lender and white; 
therje lineares, flav®, fig. 2. X Anther®, linear and yellow, Jig. 2. 
Fem. I 
SQUAM.E mafc. fimiles, magis vero oblong® ac ob - 1 SCALES as in the male, but more oblong and blunter, 
tufae. 3. ? fig- 3- . 
NECTAR 1 UM oblongum, glabrum, ore integro ;¥ NECTARY, oblong, fmooth, the mouth entire ; Ger- 
Germen minimum ; Stylus nedario longior; J men very lmall ; Style longer than the Nec- 
Stigmata duo, villofa, fig. 4. 5. f tary ; Stigmata, two, villous, fig. 4. 5. 
SEMEN triquetrum, minimum, intra nedarium.7%. 6. |SEED, three-cornered, very minute, within the nedary, 
l fa 6 . 
If the feafon be mild, this plant and the Riparia flower in April, and ripen their feeds in June and July. 
The gracilis, though a flenderer plant both in ftalks, leaves, and fpikes is equal in height where it grows in fi- 
niilar fituations to cither of the other two, but as this has a greater tendency at leafl in Batterfea Meadows to grow 
among the herbage, it is frequently found (horter, and fometimes large patches of its foliage are vifible without any 
flowering {pikes. 
This fpecies is diftinguiftied from the other two, not only by having narrower leaves, which want the glaucous 
colour of the other two, and flenderer fpikes, which in their young ftate are remarkably pendulous, fo as at firft 
fight to give this plant an appearance of the Carex pendula, but the female flowers are conftantly and invariably di- 
gynous. My moft obliging friend Dr. ‘Goode nought, to whom 1 had communicated my thoughts on this lubjed, 
examining thefe plants with his ufual accuracy, anticipated me in the diicovery of this moft important, moft necef- 
iary charader; a charader which in a moment decidedly diftinguiflies betwixt two plants, which without it would 
for ever have been liable to be confounded. 
We fhould have been inclined to fuppofe that our gracilis was the acuta of Linnjeus, had he not quoted Micheli’s 
figure, to which he adds the epithet bona, that figure is a tolerable reprefentation of our acuta, but the fpikes are far 
too thick for thole of the gracilis. 
This fpecies, which is equally common with the two others, flowers a week or two later. 
Agriculturally confidered, it is perhaps doubtful, whether we are to rank the Carices with the ufeful or the noxious 
plants ; from what we have hitherto obferved, we fliould rather clafs them with the latter, not but we think the 
Junci, Scirpi, &c. infinitely more injurious, yet ftill they occupy the room of better grades ; their principal merit is, 
that they afford- early pafturage, yet their foliage is harlh and rough, and produdive of indifferent hay ; and fuch is 
the opinion of Linnaeus, who, in his Flora Lappon, remarks that the Hulbandman is not fond of fuch meadows as 
are overrun with Carices, as they afford bad fodder and unprofitable pafturage “ nec pinguefcat bos carice pajhis 
acuta ; unfortunately, however, when the p refen t fpecies, or fuch as have fimilar creeping roots, have once go: pof- 
fefliou of the foil, they are the moft difficult plants poflible to eradicate. 
As articles of rural ceConomy, they are in many inftances highly ufeful ; in Hampfhire, Surry, and perhaps other 
hop counties, the leaves of thefe three fpecies are ufed indifcriminately under the name of Sedge, i or tying the young 
hop plants to the poles. Micheli informs us, that in Italy they are ufed to cover their wine flafks, to make the 
common fort of chair bottoms, and that the Coopers in making tubs. See. place them betwixt the (laves to make 
them water-tight : to the comfort of the Laplander, they contribute in a high degree by defending him from the fe- 
& ’ verity 
