C A R EX recurva.
Glaucous Heath Car ex.
MONOECIA Triandria.
Gen. Char. Male, Catkin imbricated. Cal. o f one
scale. Cor. none. Female, Catkin imbricated.
Cal. of one scale. Cor. none. Stigmas 2 or 3.
Seed clothed with a swelling tunic.
Spec. Char. Sheaths short. Female spikes cylindrical,
pendulous. Fruit elliptical, triangular, roughish.
Root creeping.
Syn. Carex recurva. Huds. 413. Sm. FI. Brit. 999.
Gooden. Tr. o f L . Soc. v. 2. 184. With. 102.
Hall. 208. Relh. 369. Sibth. 31. Abbot. 206.
FI. Dan. t. 1051.
Gramen cyperoides, foliis caryophylleis, spicis oblongis
e pedicuhs longioribus pendulis. Raii Syn. 418.
V e r y common in pastures, groves and the moist parts of
open heathy places, where its short glaucous leaves render it
very conspicuous both in dry and wet weather. It flowers in
May and June. Few Carices vary more in size and luxuriance.
The root is creeping, sheathed with brown scales. Whole
herb glaucous. Stem upright, from 8 to 18 inches high,
roundish with 3 angles, rough upwards. Leaves erect, broadish,
flat, rough-edged, much shorter than the stem. Bractete erect
about equal to the stem in height, with short sheaths having
a small appendage on each side. Male spikes linear-lanceolate,
erect, mostly solitary, sometimes numerous or compound;
the scales obtuse, brown, with a pale keel. Female spikes
about 2, on very long stalks, at first erect, but soon pendulous,
cylindrical, very dense; their glumes ovate, somewhat pointed,
blackish with a white edge and yellowish nerve. Stigmas 3.
Fruit imbricated, elliptical, bluntly triangular, swelling, entire,
more or less downy or rough, of a rusty green, soon becoming
black. Seed short, triangular.