C A R E X pauciflora.
Few-flowered 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. Spike simple, of few flowers, the upper
one male. Fruit spreading, awlshaped. Stigmas
three.
Syn. Carex pauciflora. Lightf. 543. t. 6. f . 2. Sm. FI.
Brit. 966. Gooden. Tr. o f L . Soc. v. 2. 143.
With. 87. Hull. 204. Dicks. H. Sicc.fasc. 1.
16. Winch Guide, v. 1. 83.
C. patula. Huds. 402 and 657.
C. Leucoglochin. Linn. Suppl. 413. Ehrh. Phyt.
n. 8. ' .
T h i S rare little Carex had been found in no other part of
Britain than Scotland, till Mr. Winch met with it in June
1803 in Northumberland. It grows on peat bogs, flowering
early in that month.
Root creeping, scaly. Stems from 3 to 5 inches high,
erect, bowed at the base, smooth, obscurely triangular.
Leaves about 2 embracing the base of each stem, channelled,
smooth, much shorter than the stems. Spike solitary, erect,
of from 4 to 6 flowers, of, which the upper one only is a
male, and upright; the rest are females, a little spreading, and
at length reflexed. Scales lanceolate, of a pale rust-colour.
Fruit of the same hue, tapering, somewhat triangular, furrowed.
Stigmas three; Ligbtfoot says they are occasionally
but two.
We prefer the original name of Lightfoot, to the hard
Greek one, foisted into the Supplementum Plantarum by
Ehrhart, as he superintended the press, without Ljnnseus’s
knowledge.