XIY. 
NOTES ON SOME HERTFORDSHIRE CARICES. 
By the late B. A. Pryor, B.A., F.L.S. 
Bead at Watford , 10 th May, 1877.* 
In the preparation of the Flora on which I am engaged, I have 
found it necessary to pay considerable attention, among other 
doubtful points, to those connected with some of our more inter¬ 
esting Carices. The following notes are based on the examination 
of a number of specimens preserved in the collection of the late 
Rev. W. H. Coleman | and in other herbaria, but more especially 
in the growing state. 
I. —Carex lepidocarpa, Tausch. 
After some consideration and the comparison of numerous ex¬ 
amples from different parts, I have come to the conclusion that we 
have but one form of C.flava in the county, and have little hesita¬ 
tion in reducing both the “ fiava ” and “ OEderi ” of the ‘Flora 
Hertfordiensis ’ to C. lepidocarpa , Tausch. Yariable as this sedge 
is in appearance, and ranging from eighteen to barely three inches 
in height, it can, I believe, be readily recognised, at all events in 
the living state. Besides the usually longer-stalked male spikelet, 
and the roughness of the upper part of the stem, the perigynia are 
generally not above half the size of those of C. flava, and the 
shorter beaks are either almost straight, or have rather the appear¬ 
ance of having been forcibly bent downwards, instead of having 
the natural and almost double curvature of those of the genuine 
plant. 
II. — Carex eulva, Goodenough. 
The history of this supposed species has been always attended 
with many circumstances of obscurity, and the name has been 
used in widely different significations. 
It was originally described by Goodenough in the second volume 
of the ‘ Linnean Transactions,’ where he characterises it in the 
following terms:—“ C. vagina infima subdimidiata, superioribus 
subsequantibus, spicis fcemineis duabus oblongis acutis, capsulis 
rostratoacuminatis: Carex distans, ‘FI. Dan.,’ t. 1049, J prope 
Eaton, juxta Shrewsbury, in agro Salopiensi: Bev. E. Williams.” 
And after a detailed description, which it is not necessary to 
quote, he proceeds at some length to contrast his new species with 
that immediately preceding it, as under— 
* ‘ Journ. Rot.,’ sr.s., vol. v, p. 365. This paper, although read before the 
Society some years ago (see ‘Trans. Watford Nat. Hist. Soc.,’ Yol. I, p. Ivii), 
may be of interest in connection with the author’s ‘Flora of Hertfordshire,’ 
which will shortly he published by the Society.— Ed. 
t This collection is now in the possession of the Society, with those of the late 
Rev. R. H. Webb and the author.— Ed. 
4 This figure has been variously applied, and was considered by Smith to 
represent his C. speirostachya, in spite of the “pointed scale accompanying the 
fruit ” (‘Eng. FI.,’ vol. iv, p. 99) ; Hoppe, however, seems again to refer it to 
his C.fulva. 
