 In 1800, James Edward Smith published an article in the Transactions of the Linnean Society of London, titled "Descriptions of five new British species of Carex", which included the first descriptions of Carex davalliana, C. binervis, C. tomentosa (a synonym of C. filiformis), C. micheliana (a synonym of C. flacca) and C. laevigata. After the Latin diagnosis of Carex binervis, Smith writes:
