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NOTES ON THE CARICES OF THE EPPING
FOREST AREA.
By ROBERT PAULSON.
THE following notes on the Carices of Epping Forest are the
result of an attempt to verify, as far as possible, the species
recorded for that area in Gibson's "Flora of Essex," published in
1862.
It is necessary for me to state that my observations have not
extended much beyond Epping ; in fact, they apply more particularly
to the district south of a line from Epping to Waltham Abbey.
Since the publication of the above-mentioned "Flora," some of the
localities for the less frequent species have been invaded by the
builder, while others have so completely changed in character that
there appears sufficient reason for forming a list of those which are
known to exist in the Forest area at the present time. In Gibson's
"Flora" twenty-seven species are recorded, but there is no doubt
that some of the rarer sedges mentioned for such places as Wal-
thamstow, Woodford, and Lea Bridge, have disappeared.
For convenience I shall speak of the species as belonging to the
three sections into which Carices are divided.
The first section, known as the Monostachyae, includes those
which bear a terminal, simple, solitary spike, and being a small
group, only five British plants come within its limits.
1 have not succeeded in finding a single representative of this
section in the Forest, although Carex pulicaris, L. (Flea-sedge) is
reported from High Beach, which is just the locality where one
would expect to meet with it. We have searched the bogs in that
neighbourhood for the last four years, but have hitherto been unsuc-
cessful ; yet, as the plant is common and generally distributed, it is
quite possible that it may have been seen recently. If so, another
sedge is added to the list of those still found in the Forest area.
In the second section, Monostachyae, are included those plants
with short sessile similar spikelets, most of which are two-sexual. Of
the ten recorded by Gibson from this section, we have verified six.
One of them, Carex echinata, Murr. (the Little Prickly Sedge, the
C. stellulata of Gibson's "Flora") is perhaps the most common ; it