3 8 . [ 2404 ]
C A R EX ustul^ta.
Scorched alpine Carex.
MO NO E CIA Triandqa.
Gen. Char. Male, Catkin imbricated. Ccd. o f one
scale. Cor. none. Female, Catkin imbricated.
Cal. o f one scale. Cor. none. Stigmas 2 or 3.
Seed clothed with a swelling tunic.
Spec. Char. Sheaths very short. Female spikes
ovate, pendulous. Fruit elliptical, compressed,
beaked, with sharp and roughish edges. Root
fibrous.
Syn, Carex ustulata. Willd. Sp. PI. v. 4. 293. Wah-
lenb. in Sims 8$ Kon. Am. o f Pot. v. 2. 130.
C. atro-fusca. Schkuhr. Car. 106. t. Y . n. 82.
GrATHERED in watery places in a micaceous soil on the
mountain of Ben Lawcrs, by Mr. Geo, Don, the only person
who, to our knowledge, has met with this species in Britain.
We presume there can be no doubt respecting its synonyms.
The root is perennial, strong and tufted, scarcely creeping,
with very long and numerous yellowish fibres. Stem almost
naked, triangular, smooth, hardly a span high. Leaves short,
erect, striated, smooth, except at the edges near the point,
where there is a slight roughness. Spikes dark-coloured, looking
as if scorched or burnt, all of a short, tumid figure; the
lower bractea only slightly sheathing. The two female spikes
are pendulous, the male one erect. We find the edges of the
fruit roughish upwards, the beak is short and cloven. Stigmas
three, long, dark-coloured. This, species ranges near li-
piosa, t. .2043, and atrata3 t. 2044.