The Botany of Iceland - 01.12.1942, Blaðsíða 173
THE PTERIDOPHYTA AND SPERMATOPHYTA OF ICELAND
171
A reliable character by which to distinguish C. þaupercula is its lack of papillae
on the lower surface of the leaves. In C. rariflora and C. limosa the lower surface
of the leaves is clad with densely setwhitish papillae (seen through a good magnifying
glass). Also, the shorter female spikes, with long, narrow and acute scales are good
marks of identification.
Found in some few places in N.W. Icel.; in one place north of Borgarfjörður
(Grímsstaðir), Teigur in Dalasýsla, and in one place in N. (Hraundalur in Fljót).
It is very probable that this plant is rather frequent in Iceland but owing to its
Fig. 61. Carex pilulifera L.—Rings with dot: C. pauþercula Michx.
resemblance to the two above-mentioned species it has hitherto escaped the attention
of florists. See fig. 61.
Life-form : G. (Rhizome Geophyte),
In spongy bogs.
Flor. VI—VII ; fr. mat. VII—VIII.
Max. height: 28 cm ; average: 21 cm.
Geogr. area: Am.: Newfoundland to Alaska, southward to Utah, Minnesota and
Pennsylvania.—Greenl.: W. Godthaabsfj. Distr.—Eur.: E.S.I.; northern Scan-
dinavia; southern Sweden; central European mts.—Asia: Archangelsk, northern
Asia, Kamchatka, Honshu.
116. Carex pilulijera Linn., Sp. pl. ed. I (1753) p. 976.
Hornemann, 1821, p. 937.—C. montana (pilulijera), Gliemann, 1824, p. 147.
—Drejcr, Revisio, 1841, p. 433.—C. pilulifera Linn., Babington, 1871, p.
339.—Stefánsson, Fl. ísl., ed. 1, 1901, p. 38.—Ibid., ed. 2, 1924, p. 44,—
C.H.O., Fl. arct., 1902, p. 83,—O. & Gr., 1934, p. 38.
Flora Dan. tab. 1048.