154 
ILLUSTRATIONS OP THE GENUS CAREX. 
lineari-lanceolatae, acuminatse, perigynio snbduplo longiores ; 
inferiores ovatse, mucronatse, latiores subsequantes. Perigy¬ 
nium lfV lin. Ion gimp -A lin. latum, e nerve vel parce leviter 
nervatum. Achenium 1 lin. Ion gum, Ay lin. latum, oblongum, 
biconvexum, distortum, marginibus indentatis vel curvatum, 
basi styli erassiore deflexa. 
Allied in habit to G. Pichinchensis, Kunth. 
I have not seen any description of this plant, which I owe to 
the kindness of M. Sonder, who procured me most of the plants of 
Lechler. The specimen came with a printed ticket, which I have 
copied. I cannot explain the singular name given to it by 
Steudel. It is not noticed, as far as I am aware, in his ‘ Synopsis.’ 
357. C. canescens (L.); spica oblonga pallida, e spi- 
culis 5-6 vel 4-7 rarius 3—10 androgynis basi masculis 
ovalibus vel obovatis densifloris approximate vel supe- 
rioribus contiguis, inferioribus plus minus remotis nudis 
vel infima brevi rarius longiuscule bracteata ; stigmatibus 
2 ; perigyniis ovalibus vel ovatis plus minus rostratis, 
ore subintegro plano-convexis utrinque nervatis granu- 
latis superne marginibus scabris viridibus vel glaucis im- 
bricatis in feme subcoriaceis basi spongiosis, squama 
ovata acuta subinde cuspidata vel obtusa albo-hyalina 
vel fulva nervo viridi sequilata longioribus vel subsequan- 
bus.—C. canescens, Linn. FI. Suec. n. 842; Wahl. Act. 
147 ; FI. Lap. 232 (exel. syn. Schk.); Lcesl. FI. Prus. 
117, t. 32; Light. FI. Scot. 2, 550 (1777); Reich FI. 
Fixe. 1, 58; Leon. t. 206, n. 546; Drejer, Rev. 27 [ex 
parte ) ; Andersson, 57, t. 4, /. 39 ; Lange , 57 ; FI. Ros- 
sica, 4, 280; Tchihatcheff, Asie Min. 575; Tor. Mon 
393 ; Carey, 543 ; Tuck. 10 ; Sartwell, Fans. n. 32. C. 
curta, Good, in Linn. Trcins. 2,145 ; Smith, FI. Br. 3, 967; 
Fng. Bot. t. 1368 ; Fng. FI. 4, 81; Hooker, Br. FI. 5th 
ed. 423; Willd. 4, 241; Act.Ber. 41, t. 2,/. 3 ; Schk. 
43, c. f. 13; Kunth, 403; Gaudin, Agrost. 2, 110; 
Persoon, Syn. 2, 539; Ledehour, FI. Alt. 4, 211 ; Gay, 
Ann. 10, 365 ; Bertol. FI. Italica, 54 ; Hook. f. FI. Ant. 
2, 363 ; Gay, FI. Chil. 210; Muhl. 233; Sclav, et Tor. 
318; Dewey, 8, 93; Bigeloio, FI. Post. 3rd ed. 360; 
Nuttall, Gen. 2, 204. C. tenella, Ehrh. n. 98 {non Schk.). 
C. cinerea, Pollich, FI. Palat. 2, 571. C. elongata, 
Leers. FI. Herb. 197, 1. 14,/. 7. C. brizoides, Hudson, 
Fl.Ang. (1778), 2, 406. C. Ricbardi, Thuill. ; Michaux, 
2, 170. C. leporina, Lapeyr. Ab. Pyr. 564. C. similis, 
I)' Urville, FI. Mid.; Kunth, 403. 0. spicata, Sol. {Herb. 
Banks.). (Tab. CCCCXCYI.) 
Var. /3. subloliacea. —C. canescens, var. subloliacea, 
Lcestad.; Anders. C. Lapponica, Lange, 59. 
Perigynium T 9 0 —l lin. longum, t 4 - 0 —tV lin. latum, ellipticum, 
utrinque nervatum, glabrum. Achenium -A lin. longum, At 
lin. latum, ovale. 
Hab. In Europa, Asia, et America septentrionali et 
meridionali.—Lapland to the Pyrenees and Italy. Cau¬ 
casus, Tauric Pontus, Altai, Ural, Baikal, Kamtchatka, 
Cascade and Rocky Mountains. Arctic seacoast, Green¬ 
land to New York. Sitcha, Chili, Str. Magellan, Falk¬ 
land Islands. 
Radix stolonifera. Culmus ./l /pedalis, triqueter, scaber, 
basi foliatus. Folia 1-1J lin. lata, culmo breviora vel sub- 
sequantia, plana, mollia. Bractea infima plerumque spicula 
brevior vel elongata, rarissime spicam subaequans vel superans, 
setacea. Spica 10 lin. ad vel, in speciminibus quibusdam 
Americanis, fere 4 poll, longa. Spiculce 2-3 lin. longue, 2 lin. 
latse, vel 6-7 lin. longue, 3 lin. latte, omnes vel superiores tan- 
tum contiguae; infima vel inferiores (rarius basi attenuate, 
nunc composite) poll., vel in Americanis saepe 1-1 i poll, 
remotae; terminalis quandoque major, basi attenuata (rarius 
omnino) mascula, vel omnes aeque basi parce masculae, rarius 
inferiores (in speciminibus Scoticis) compositae. Squamae 
masculae lanceolatae; feminece late ovatae vel ovato-lanceolatae, 
acutae, quandoque acuminatae vel cuspidulatae, vel obtusae, 
albo-hyalinae, tenuissimae, nervo viridi, vel fulvae concolores, 
vel margine hyalinae, firmiores; perigynium subaequantes vel 
eo duplo breviores, vel, in Americanis, longiores. Perigynium 
t°o lin.— 1 t 2 o — nr bn. longum, 1 lin. latum, vel I f lin. longum, 
tv _ tV hn. latum, ovale vel ovatum, viride vel glaucum, 
utrinque leviter nervatum; nervis saepe magis coloratis, sub- 
abrupte brevi, vel sensim longius rostratum, rostro pallide 
ferrugineo; ore integro, truncato, antice subfisso (fissura ra¬ 
rissime elongata); superne marginibus scabrum, vel fere gla¬ 
brum, leviter vel grosse granulatum, appressum; inferne sub- 
coriaceum, basi spongiosum, brevi stipitatum. Achenium 
-ro~To hn. longum, At—fV hn. latum, ovale vel obovatum, len- 
ticulare, pallidum, basi styli erassiore. 
In comparing European and American specimens, I find— 
European ! American! 
1 with 3 spikes. 3 with 3 spikes. 
10 
55 
4 
IS 
„ 4 
22 
55 
5 
27 
„ 5 
22 
55 
6 
27 
» 6 
9 
55 
7 
15 
* 7 
4 
55 
8 
7 
„ 8 
3 
„ 9 
1 
„ 10 
68 
specimens. 
101 
specimens. 
Dr. Goodenough, in his admirable paper on “British Carices,” 
in the second volume of the Linnean Transactions (1792), misled 
by the specimens in the Linnean Herbarium, was induced to 
adopt a name for this species derived from the description of 
Loesel, “spiels curtis.” It had been previously described in 
England by Hudson as the C. brizoides, L., and in Scotland by 
Lightfoot as the G. canescens, L. The only specimen in the 
Linnean Herbarium of the true G. canescens, L., is there named 
G. brizoides; while that under the name of O. canescens is the G. 
Buxbaumii of Wahlenberg. Of this there are two specimens, one 
of which is not named. It is from Lapland, found by Solander, 
as recorded by Linnseus; and being identical with the specimen 
which Linnseus had in his Herbarium named G. canescens, Smith 
has added “ canescens veraT As Goodenough could not bring 
himself to believe that his G. curta was the C. brizoides, L., 
judging from the description of Linnseus, and the Linnean Her¬ 
barium seeming to him a paramount authority for the G. canescens, 
he could not follow either Hudson or Lightfoot, and therefore 
adopted the name suggested to him by Loesel. When I was exa¬ 
mining the British Carices in 1842, for the fifth edition of Sir W. 
J. Hooker’s ‘British Elora,’ I was equally misled by the speci¬ 
mens in the Linnean Herbarium and by the high authorities of 
Goodenough and Smith, and in describing C. Buxbaumii, then re¬ 
cently added to the British flora, I named it C. canescens, L. But 
these misconceptions have long since been corrected by the Swe¬ 
dish botanists. 
This species, while it has the same habit in North and South 
America as in Europe and Asia, presents a form in America with 
the lower spikes very remote, differing from any I have seen else¬ 
where. Those figured at Tab. CCCCXCYI. are from the State of 
New York. In Europe it extends from Lapland to the Pyrenees 
and Italy, and in America from the Arctic seacoast and Green¬ 
land to New York. It is found in the Ealkland Islands and the 
