2814
CAREX rupestris.
Rock Carex.
MONOECIA Triandria,
Gen. Char. Flowers diclinous, in a closely imbricated
spike. Scales single-flowered. Male:
Perianth none. Stamens 3. Female : Perianth
monophyllous, capsular, persistent, contracted
at the top, awnless at the base. Stigmas 2
or 3. Nut included within the enlarged perianth.
Spec. Char. Spike solitary, androgynous, barren
above, lax-flowered below. Fruit obovate,
triquetrous, rostrate, with an entire mouth,
scarcely larger than the obtuse or cuspidate
scale. Stigmas 3.
Syn. Carex rupestris. Allion. FI. Ped. t. 92. f . 1.
Willd. Sp. PI. 215. Schk. t. N. n. n. n .f. 200.
Wahl. FI. Lapp. 225. &c.
C. petraea. Wahl. Act. Holm. ann. 1803. 139.
Willd. Sp. PI. v. 4. 214. Schk. t. K .K .K .f. 139.
XViOOT stout, creeping. Stem 3—8 inches high, acutely
triangular, rough upwards, leafy below. Leaves a line
broad at the base, rigid, flat, carinate, ending in a long, attenuate,
tortuous, rough, triangular point, longer or shorter
than the stem. Spike composed of from 3—6 lax female
flowers below, and more numerous crowded barren ones
above. Fruit obovate, rostrate, with an entire mouth, ap-
pressed, about equalling the subrotund, generally obtuse
scales, the lower one of which is sometimes acute or cuspidate.