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C A R E X distans.
Lodse Carex.
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MONOECIA Triandria
G e n . C h a r . Male, Catkin imbricated. Cal. 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.
S p e c . C h a r . Sheaths elongated, nearly as long as the
flower-stalks. Spikes oblong, very remote. Scales
pointed. Stem smooth.
S y n . Carex distans. Linn. Sp. PI. 1 3 8 7 . Sm. FL
Brit. 9 9 3 . Gooden. Tr. o f Linn. Soc. v. 2. 178.
Huds. 4 1 2 . With. 100. Hull. 2 0 7 . Iielh. 3 6 8 .
Sibth. 3 1 . Abbot. 202. Schkuhr. n. 8 7 . t. T. f . 68.
Gramen cyperoides spicis parvis longissime'distantibus.
Raii Syn. 4 2 0 .
T h i s Carex most frequently occurs in such marshy places
as are not remote from the sea, but it is sometimes found in
mountainous countries. Our specimen grew at Yarmouth.
It is perennial, and flowers in June.
Root fibrous. Stem 12 to 18 inches high, weak but nearly
upright, bluntly triangular, or rather flattened on one side
only, smooth, except sometimes near the top. Leaves short
and rather broad, flat, with rough edges; the floral ones
longer and narrower. Their sheaths of a moderate length,
almost entirely concealing the corresponding flower-stalks,
which stand very remote from each other, 2 or 3 on each stem.
Male spike solitary, lanceolate, with obovate scales : females
erect, ovate, short; their scales broad, of a rusty hue, their
keel 3-ribbed, tipped with a short point. Fruit ovate, longer
than the scales, brown, smooth, with many uniform ribs, and
a short cloven beak. Stigmas 3. Seed appearing granulated
under a high magnifier.