C A R E X ovalis.
Oval-fpiked, or Naked Car etc.
M O N CE C IA Friandria.
Gen. Char. Male, Catkin imbricated. Cal. o f one
fcale. Cor. none. Female, Catkin imbricated.
Cal. of one fcale. Corolla inflated, permanent.
Seed triangular, inverted with the corolla.
Spec. Char. Spikelets about fix, oval, clofe together,,
alternate. Scales lanceolate, equal to the capfule,
S yn. Carex avalis. Gooden. Tr. of Linn. Sec. V. 2. 148.
C . leporina. Hud)'. FI. An. 404. With. Bot. Arr.
1029. Relh. Cant. Suppl. 1. 15. Sibth. Ox. 27.
Gramen cyperoides, fpica e pluribus- fpicis mollibuS
compolita, Rail Syn. 422.
G a t h e r e d in Kenfington Gardens, flowering in June.
It is very common in wet marfhy paftures.
Root perennial, creeping ? Stem erect, hollow, about a foot-
high, with 3 fharp rough angles. Leaves fheathing the lower
part of the ftem, and riling about equal to it in height, dark
green, narrow, roughilh on the edges and nerve, but lefs fo
than in molt other fpecies. General fpike terminal, ereft,
eompofed of 5 or 6 upright oval fpikelets, the largeft of which
is terminal. Braftese folitary, lanceolate^ at the bafe of each
fpikelet, the lowermoft longer than the reft, and ending in a
leafy point. In each little fpike a few of the lower flowers are
male, the reft female. Scales ovato-lanceol’ate, acute, equal
to the corolla. Filaments longer than the fcales. Style tumid
at the bafe. Stigmas but two. Permanent corolla Sightly
notched, convex on one fide, margin rough.
We beg leave to corre£l an inaccuracy in the concluding paragraph
of the defeription of Carex Pfeu do- Cyperus, t. 242.
We have exprefl'ed ourfelves as if Dr.Goodenough had called the
corolla a capfule, in oppofition to Linnaeus -, whereas the truth
is, Linnaeus carelefsly ufes neclarinm and capfula indifferently for
the fame part, and our excellent friend, to whofe labours in
this genus the Britifh botanift is fo much indebted, takes the
latter term merely as the leaft exceptionable. The part in que-
ftion however is totally diftin£l from the germen and fruit,
merely enveloping the feed, and is really a permanent corolla