128 
R. A. PEYOE—HERTFORDSHIRE CARICES. 
frosts of spring.* The explanation seems at present hardly suffi¬ 
cient to account for the evident differences between C. xanthocarpa 
and any form of flava. And against it we have the positive 
testimony of Degland himself, who has mentioned the fruit, and of 
Boreau, who asserts that his plant remains constant under cultiva¬ 
tion. The evidence of Boott, who certainly included C. xantho¬ 
carpa under his typical fulva , and who has described and figured a 
fertile as well as sterile form, may be taken as lending additional 
weight in the same direction. It seems more probable that both 
species have sterile forms. I have not found fully-developed fruit 
in our Hertfordshire examples, but the perigynia, which in this 
respect agree precisely with those of M. Schultz’s specimens, are 
considerably smaller and less inflated than those of C. Horn- 
schuchiana (with mature fruit), and in this respect differ widely 
from those of M. Grenier’s sterile plant, which are said to be 
“ du double plus gros, plus enfles, et pour cela plus divergents” 
(Grenier, loc. cit.). It is questionable perhaps whether the slender 
“ spindle ” shape of the male spikelet, on which some stress is laid 
by Babington in his description of C. fulva , may not sometimes be 
owing to a parallel affection of the masculine element. 
Y.— Caeex distaxs, L. 
Hot uncommon on the wet moorish ground at the foot of the 
chalk hills in the north of the county, extending from Ashwell on 
the borders of Cambridgeshire to Wilstone on the very verge of 
Bucks. It occurs in several localities about Hitchin, and accom¬ 
panies CEnanthe Lachenalii and Samolus Valerandi, both plants of a 
semi-maritime character, in each of their recorded stations. The 
correctness of the name has been questioned, as in the case of other 
inland counties, but the continental distribution is not against its 
occurrence in such situations, and it has been confirmed by high 
authorities. After the examination of a considerable number of 
specimens I can see no reason to doubt the accuracy of their con¬ 
clusion. The Carex in the Kew herbarium from the neighbourhood 
of Barton, Bedfordshire,! distributed as C. fulva, var. speirostachya, 
and which was collected at Shardeloes by Mr. Isaac Brown, must 
be referred also to the present species. 
YI. —Carex bixervis, Sm. 
The true plant! but quite confined to the south of the county, 
where in shaded places it attains very large dimensions. 
YII. —Carex lasvigata, Sm. 
This is given for Hertfordshire in the appendix to the ‘ Flora of 
Middlesex,’ but I have never been able to trace on what authority. 
I need not add that I should be very pleased to be able to include 
it in our list. 
* Gren., ‘ Flore Jurass.,’ pt. 2, p. 857. 
f See ‘ Journ. Bot.,’ n.s. vol. v, p. 26. 
