Carex arenaria L., C. reichenbachii Bonnet en C. ligerica Gray in Nederland

Contrary to Kern & Reichgelt (1954) it is concluded that both C. reichenbachii and C. ligerica can not be distinguished from C. arenaria in the Netherlands. The paper deals with the results of a reexamination of some collections identified by Kern and Reichgelt. The collections have especially been examined on the distribution of the sexes in the inflorescence (fig. 1: complete inflorescences, male flowers in solid dots, female ones in circles), form of the achenes (fig. 2), diameter of the rhizomes (fig. 3), width of the leaves (fig. 4). Within subg. Vignea C. arenaria s. lat. can be characterized by middle partial inflorescences which have male flowers both in basal and in apical position, and by long rhizomes. It is concluded that no taxonomically important differences could be found between the three ‘species’.