TRIANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. Carex. 
113 
(5) Spikes , some barren , others jertile; barren spikes two or more. 
£C. filiformis, stricta, recurva, and some others, which have, though 
rarely, two barren spikes.] 
48. C. riparia. Spikes oblong, acute; scales of the barren spear-shaped, 
of the fertile tapering to an awn-like point; capsules egg-spear¬ 
shaped, cloven into two teeth at the end. 
(49. C. laevigata. Spikes cylindrical; fertile ones on stalks; sheaths 
very long; glumes pointed; fruit triangular, with a cloven 
beak. E.) 
50. C. paluddsa. Spikes oblong, rather blunt; scales of the barren ones 
blunt, of the fertile spear-shaped; capsules egg-spear-shaped, 
slightly toothed at the end. 
51. C. acuta. Summits two; spikes thread-shaped ; fertile spikes pen¬ 
dulous whilst in flower, upright when ripe; capsules rather acute, 
entire at the end. 
52. C. vesica via. Barren spikes strap-shaped; fertile oblong, expanding ; 
capsules inflated, oblong, beak-pointed, expanding. 
53. C. ampulla'cea. Spikes thread-shaped, the barren ones thinnest, 
fertile ones cylindrical, upright; capsules inflated, globular, awn- 
beaked, diverging. 
54. C. hir'ta. Hairy; all the spikes oblong; fertile spikes far asunder, 
sheathed; capsules hairy. 
(1) Spike single; not branched* 
1. C. dioi'ca. Spikes simple: edges of the capsule finely serrated: 
barren and fertile florets on different plants. 
( E . Bot. 543. E.)— FI. Dan. 369— H. Ox. viii. 12. 22. Barren plant, ib. 36, 
fertile. — Mich. 32. 1 and 2. B. and F. plant; but the latter erroneously 
represented with three summits instead of two. 
Root creeping. Leaves like bristles, somewhat three-cornered; channelled 
on the inside, upright, smooth, nearly as tall as the fruit-stalk. Straw 
four to ten inches high, triangular, smooth. Barren spike half to one 
inch. Fertile shorter. Capsules expanding, egg-shaped, acute. Sum¬ 
mits two. Goodenough. Seeds a little serrated. Straw at bottom light 
brown; but in C. capitata the seeds are entire, and the straw black at 
the bottom; so that should C. capitata prove to be a British plant, they 
may be thus distinguished. Afzel. 
Var. 2. Barren and fertile florets on the same spike. 
Gent. Mag . July, 1793. 
C. capitata of Huds. not of Linn. Relh. Hinton and Teversham Moors, 
near Cambridge. 
* (It may be here remarked, and Carex cited in exemplification, that, in order to 
secure fecundation in monoecious plants, the stameniferous or barren florets are gene- 
rally placed by nature above the pistilliferous or fertile ones, so that the pollen may 
with greater certainty fall on the pistil, whose stigma is invariably prepared with a viscid 
moisture, necessary both to secure the adherence of the pollen, and to stimulate its 
particles to explode the subtile vapour to be imbibed by the stigma, without which the 
seeds would not be perfected. E.) 
VOL. II. j 
