5 [ 1507 ]
C A 11 E X caespilosa.
Tufted Bog Carex.
MONOECIA Triandria.
Gen, Char. Male, Catkin imbricated. Cal. of 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. Stigmas two. Bractese auricled, not
sheathing. Spikes sessile, cylindrical, obtuse. Fruit
permanent.
Syn. Carex csespitosa. Linn. Sp. PI. 1388. Sm. FI.
Brit. 1000. Gooden. Tr. o f L. Soc. v. 2. 195. t. 21.
f . 8. With. 106. Hull. 208. Relh. 370. Sibth. 31.
Lightf. 560.
Gramen caryophylleum, angustdssimis foliis, spicis
sessilibus brevioribus erectis non compactis, JDill.
in Raii Syn. 418.
C o m m u n ic a t e d by Mr. Crowe from near Norwich,
where it is' not uncommon; nor probably is it rare in marshy
spots throughout England. It flowers in May, or early in
June.
The root is creeping, but short., and forms dense entangled
tufts, yet scarcely in so remarkable a manner as Linnaeus describes
in FI. Suec. His specimens however agree precisely
with ours. The stems are from 9 to 12 inches high, acutely
triangular, roughish above. Leaves erect, almost as tall as the
stem, narrow, acute, of a bright and not glaucous green,
rough at the edges and keel. Bracteae like the leaves but
much smaller, without any sheath, accompanied at the base
by a pair of round black auricles, which are largest in the
smaller bracteae. Male spike almost always solitary, lanceolate,
erect, with brown, obtuse, narrowish, green-ribbed
scales. Female spikes 2 or 3, crowded, sessile, erect, cylindrical,
shortish, obtuse, very dense, with elliptical, obtuse,
close, black, green-ribbed scales. Fruit elliptical, broad,
compressed, ribbed, green, smooth, permanent after it is ripe.
Stigmas hut 2, Seed compressed,