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C A R E X Mielichoferi.
Loose-spiked Rock Carex.
MONOECIA Triandria.
G en. 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 tonic.
Spec. Char. Sheaths not half the length of the
flower-stalk. Female spikes three, distant, erect,
lax and slender. Fruit ovate, triangular, bluntly
cloven, twice the length o f the obtuse scale.
Syn. Carex Mielichoferi. “ Schkuhr Caric.fig. 198.”
Willd. Sp. PI. v. 4. 276.
F o u n d by Mr. W . Borrer, in August 1810, on the rocky
ledges of Craig Challoch, in Breadalbane. We rely, for
Schkuhr’s synonym, upon Willdcnow, who says moreover
this is C. alpina of Hoppe. It is entirely new to British botanists,
and of all our Carices is most akin to depauperata,
t . 1098, though abundantly distinct from that and every other
in our Flora.
The root appears to be creeping or stoloniferous. Stems
about a foot high, smooth, roundish. Leaves chiefly radical,
flat, smooth, with acute stipulas. Bracteas nearly the length
of the slender flowerstalks, erect, acute; their sheathing part
about one third of the whole. Female spikes three, upright,
lax, the lowermost consisting of about a dozen flowers, the
uppermost of half as many; their glumes broad, rounded and
bluntish, red-brown, with a broad yellowish rib. Stigmas
three. Fruit green, ovate, slender, incurved, triangular,
roughish-edged, its orifice rounded and cloven. Male spike
solitary, terminal, erect, oblong, bluntish, of numerous, ob-
ovate, red-brown scales, much longer than those of the females.
Stamens three, whitish,