C A R E X extenfa.
Long-brcidtecited Carex.
MONO EC IA Triandria.
Gen. Char. M ale, Catkin imbricated. . Cal. o f
1 fcale. Cor. none. Female, Catkin imbricated.
Cal. o f 1 fcale. Cor. none. Stigmas 2 or 3.
Seed clothed with a fwelling tunic.
Spec. Char. Bradteae very long, with very fhort
fheaths and flower-ftalks. Female-fpikes roundifh.
F ru it ovate. Stem fmoolh.
Syn. Carex extenfa, Gooden. TV. o f Linn. Soc. v . 2,
1 7 5 ' t , 21. f. 7. and v . 2. 77. Sm. FI. B rit. 002.
W ith 99. Hull. 207.
Cyperoides echinatum majus. Dill, in R ail Syn. 421,
T H IS Carex, when fir ft found by the Rev.. Mr. Bryant on
Cley beach, Norfolk, in 1776, was taken for the jiliformis of
Linnaeus. Other fpecimens were afterwards referred by
botanifts to the C. jlava. At length Dr. Goodenough,
having examined the plant in a living {late in Devonfhire and
near Harwich, publifhed it by the name of extenfa as a new
fpecies, of the propriety of which there can be no manner of
doubt.
The root is fibrous and perennial. Stem upright or
curved, various in height, bluntly triangular, perfectly fmooth
in every part. Leaves narrow, recurved, channelled, rough
at the margin towards the point. Bra&ese remarkably long
and fpreading, often curved, leafy, with very Ihort fheaths,
Male fpike generally folitary, but fometimes accompanied by
a fmaller one, lanceolate, bluntilh, with now and then a few
female flowers in the lower part. Female fpikes 2 or 3, fhort
and ovate or globular, rarely cylindrical and elongated, ereft,
almofl: fefllle. All the glumes broad and three-nerved. Fruit
longer than the glumes, ovate, fomewhat triangular, fcarcely
beaked, brownifh-green, ribbed, fmooth at the edges,and every
where deftitute of pubefcence. Seed triangular, gibbous.
J a n / f. /8 o i. J'ubli/hSZ -yly, Jlo7wori/.