“I [ 1773 ]
C A R E X Oederi.
Oederian Carex.
MONOECIA Triandria.
Gen. Char. Male, Catkin imbricated. Cal. of one
scale. Cor. none. Female, Calkin imbricated.
Cal. of one scale. Cor. none. Stigmas 2 or 3.
Seed clothed with a swelling tunic.
S p e c . C h a r . Sheaths short, nearly equal to the flower-
stalks. Female spikes roundish. Fruit globose with
a straight beak, spreading in all directions. Stem
smooth.
Syn. Carex Oederi. Ehrh. Calam. 7 9 . Schkuhr. n.
5 5 . t. F. f . 2 6 . Turn, and Dillw. Bot. Guide, 65.
4 4 6 . 5 6 6 . 7 1 5 .
C. extensa. Relh. 3 6 7 . Teesd. Tr. o f L . Soc. v. 5. 6 9 .
S e n t from Norfolk in July last by Mr. Turner, who
mentions it as frequent on all the moist commons about
Yarmouth. The synonym of Relhan stands on the authority
of this gentleman; that of Teesdale is decided by specimens
sent from Beverley by their late worthy finder, which agree
exactly with the authentic one among Ehrhart’s Calamarice,
Yet the original C. Oederi of Retzius is asserted by Schkuhr,
and agreed by Retzius himself, to be merely C. pilulifera ; so
that Oeder has really nothing to do with the plant before us.
The name however may remain, as a warning that such appellations
should not be given without absolute certainty.
The species seems to be distinct enough, though it looks
at first like one of the many varieties of C.Jlava ; but it is less
yellow than that species when ripe, the fruit smaller, and
essentially different in the beaks being all straight at every period
of their growth, never bent down in the singular manner
of C.Jlava, t. 1294. The perfectly smooth stem, and short
sheaths as well as flower-stalks, keep it perfectly distinct from
C.fulva, t. 1295. It is also invariably of more humble growth.
The robt is perennial, and scarcely creeping.