C A R E X riparia.
Great Carex:
M O N CE C IA Triandria.
Gen. Char. Male, Catkin imbricated. Cal. o f x fcale.
Cor. none. Female, Catkin imbricated. Cal. o f
i fcale. Cor. inflated, permanent. Seed triangular,
inverted with the corolla.
Spec. Char. Spikes oblong, acute •, the male with
lanceolate fcales; the female with awn-pointed
ones. Corolla ovato-lanceolate, forked at the tip..
Syn. Carex riparia. Curt. Lond. fafc. 4. t. 60.
Gooden. Tr. of Linn. Soc. v. 1. 100. With. 108.
Relh. 356. Sibth. 31. Abbot. 206.
C. acuta, u. Hudf. 413.
Gramen cyperoides cum paniculis nigris. Raii Syn.
4 1 7 - _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
O N E of our moft common fpecies of Carex at the banks of
ditches and rivers, and in moft watery places, flowering about
April or May, and diftinguifhed from all others by its greater
fize. There are indeed two more fpecies, which had generally
in England been confounded with this, till Mr. Curtis clearly
determined their differences in the 4th fafciculus of his Flora,
the paludofa and acuta of Dr. Goodenough. Linnseus confounded
all three together under his acuta.
C. riparia has a ftrong, widely creeping, perennial root.
Stem two or three feet high, leafy, with three fharp rough
angles, which, like the edges of the leaves, cut like a fine faw*
Leaves broad, fharp, ereft, deep-green, a little glaucous beneath
; thofe on the ftem having a fheathing reticulated bafe.
Spikes alternate, one of them terminal, about 3 of each fex,
but the upper female ones generally terminate in feveral male
flowers. The fcales of the males are lanceolate, generally
pointed, often blunt; thofe of the females, efpecially the lower
ones, blunt, tipped with a fharp rough awn, one great mark of
the fpecies. The ftigmas are three. The permanent corolla
cloven at the tip, and ribbed. The male fpikes are triangular,
generally acute, but fbmetimes blunt.