t 9°4 ]
C A R E X filiformis.
Slender-leaved Carex.
MONOEC1A Trlandria.
G e n . C h a r . Male, Catkin imbricated. Cal. o f 1 fcale.
Cor. none.
Female, Catkin imbricated. Cal.of 1 fcale. Gar.none.
Stigmas 2 or 3. Seed clothed with a fwelling
tunic.
Spec. Char. Spikes ovate; males generally two.
Sheaths nearly as long as the flower-ftalks. Scales
pointed. Fruit downy. Leaves channelled, fmooth.
Syn. Carex filiformis. Linn. Sp. PI. 1385. Gooden.
Tr. of Linn. Soc. v. 2. 172. t. 7.0. f . 5. Sm. FI.
Brit. 1008. With. 97. Hull. 207.
C. tomentofa. L ig h t/. 553. Hudf. 650.
C. hirta. FI. Dan. t. 379, except the feparate fpike.
nr . X H E late Dr. Hope having received fpecimens of this Carex
from fome meadows near Ayr, made it known to Mr. Light-
foot, who took it for the tomentofa of Linnaus. J(See Tr. of
L . Soc.) It has fince been gathered by Mr. Mackay in feveral
other parts of Scotland. The Rev. Mr. Williams has found
it in Shropfhire, and we can now boaft it as a Norfolk plant,
on the authority of the Rev. Mr. Forby, who difcovered it wild
near Stoke.
The root is creeping and perennial. The flowers are out
in June. The ftem rifes ereft to the height of 2 feet, ftraight,
flender, round, fmooth and rufhy, except towards the top,
where it often aflumes three rough angles. Leaves upright,
ftraight, narrow, channelled, but without any (harp keel,
pointed, rough at the edge only. The bra&eae are like them,
with fhort {heaths furmounted by fmall auricles. Male fpikes
generally 2, and female about as many. Glumes blackifh,
with yellow or greenifti ribs. Stigmas 3 . Fruit ovate, with a
fhort bifid beak, ribbed, blackifti, clothed with ftiort tawny
down.