2.20 
ILLUSTRATIONS OP THE GENUS CAREX. 
gum, x 7 q lin. latum, viride, in rostrum longius tenue acumi¬ 
natum, membi'anaceum. Achenium -/o lin. longum, lin. 
latum. 
A C. canes cente, L., differt, spica brunnescente vel pallide 
viridi • spiculis paucifloris; perigyniis longius rostratis, ore 
antice alte fisso, arrecto-patentibus membranaceis minime 
granulatis; nervis concoloribus magis irregulariter dispositis ; 
postice ssepe obsoletis; culmo foliisque (prsesertim in /3) gra- 
cilibus ; locis alpinis et subalpinis nascente. 
I have followed Pries in the name of this species, as there is a 
confusion, as Andersson remarks, attending that of G. Persoonii, 
originally applied by Schkuhr to an Indian species, and his G. 
Gebhardi is undoubtedly a small form of O. elongata, L. That 
of Hoppe is certainly G.vitilis a, though Pries says, “ad C. canes- 
centem b. brunnescentem spectat.” Neither he nor Andersson, 
however, mention any such form of G. canescens, and whether any 
such exists distinguishable from G. vitilis■ a, I know not. Pries 
takes no notice of the prolonged anterior fissure of the orifice of 
the perigynium, upon which Andersson insists as an essential 
character, “ fructibus in rostrum emarginatum rima tenui longi- 
tudinali notatum acuminatis.” This character, which in the var. a 
is more conspicuous from the fissure having one of the margins 
white, constitutes with the more patent membranous texture of 
the perigynium, and more attenuated apex of the rostrum, the 
essential distinction of the species. The delicate texture of the 
perigynium is apparent from the fact of pressure in the mature 
state giving rise frequently to the escape of the achenium, which 
is favoured by the fissure naturally existing in the rostrum. On 
several of Hoppe’s specimens of his G. Gebhardi in my Herbarium 
the achenium is thus fully exposed. This character, it -would 
seem, had been overlooked by such accurate observers as Gaudin 
and Drejer, for the first considered his C. curia j3, and the last 
O. Gebhardi, as inseparable from C. canescens , L. 
The var. a is alpine, found on the mountains of North America, 
as far south as Carolina and Georgia, and in Arctic America, and 
in Europe on the Alps, and is common in Scandinavia. Anders¬ 
son describes it, “ colore viridi demum fulvo-brunneo,” thus uniting 
the two forms, a and b, of Pries. 
The var. (3 is subalpine, and so far as I know peculiar to North 
America, contrasting with the var. a in its laxer inflorescence and 
pale green colour, and more gracile culm and leaves. Tuckerman 
finds it, “in paludibus Novae Angliae,” at the base of the White 
Mountains, passing on the mountains into the var. a. Sartwell 
finds it in New York, and Sir John Richardson at Lake Winnipeg. 
The spiculse have fewer florets and the inflorescence is nearer that 
ol G. canescens. In both forms the terminal spicula is occasionally 
male or sterile. 
The specimens figured are— 
Tab. , var. a. 
n. 1. Prom the Methye Portage, Arctic America, Sir John 
Richardson. 
n. 2. Monadnuck Mountains, Vermont, Russell. 
Tab. , var. a. 
n. 1. A small form from Lake Winnipeg, Sir J. Richardson. 
Perigynium T Vio bn. longum, •jV'fu bn. latum, 
enerve vel obsolete nervatum, ore antice fisso, ros- 
tello margine scabro. Achenium T S (T lin. longum, 
xVA bn. latum, ovatum vel ovale. 
It differs from G. canescens , /3. subloliacea, in 
smaller spiculse, the perigynium nerveless, with a 
longer rough rostellum, and the orifice anteriorly 
deeply cleft. 
n. 2. “ G. vitilis ,” from Pries, Sweden. 
Tab. , var. (3, from New York, Sartwell. 
I have given separate figures and descriptions of these allied 
forms ( G. canescens, etc. etc.), leaving, as in other instances, the 
question of species or variety to future observers. I find it im¬ 
possible myself to maintain a consistency of opinion upon the 
subject, judging from my notes, at one time inclining to the 
idea of varieties, and on a subsequent examination to the oppo¬ 
site view. When I first saw the specimen I have figured as 
G. arcta, I referred it in Sir John Richardson’s Journal of a 
Botanical Voyage, to G. canescens, placing it and the other forms 
as varieties of the original Linnaean species. 
G. canescens, L. 
(3. minor, subloliacea. 
y. brunnescens. 
S. vitilis. 
e. polystachya, G. arcta. 
NOTE. 
Part I. p. 41.— Carex oligocarpa. —The venerable Dr. Dewey informs me that it was, through inadvertence, 
stated, in the ‘ Illustrations/ under C. oligocarpa, that he had confounded this species with C. Hitchcockiana, and 
refers me to f Silliman’s Journal/ 1847, vol. iv. p. 349, as evidence of the contrary. Dr. Dewey having there 
pointed out the very manifest difference between them.—J. D. IT. 
FINIS. 
