1901] Fernald, — Northeastern Carices 43 
This closes the list of Mt. Toby ferns. There are only five more 
in this part of the state, Woodwardia Virginica and W. angustifolia, 
Lygodium palmatum, Botrychium matricariaefolium and B. lanceola- 
tum. We cannot credit our beloved mountain with these, but are 
well satisfied with the thirty-seven to fifty kinds— according to the 
number of varieties that one chooses to admit —which we can collect 
in one day within the sweep of our one mile radius. Our Mt. Toby 
plants are more scattered than those of the charming Vermont fern 
garden, and we have to work harder for them, but, considering their 
number and the rarity of some, we think our paradise worthy of a 
place in a botanist’s heart, beside that other delightful spot. 
SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS. 
THE NORTHEASTERN CARICES OF THE SUBSECTION 
VESICARIAE. 
M. L. FERNALD. 
THE species of Carex ordinarily referred to the Vesicariae have been, 
with the possible exception of the Aigidae and the Ova/es, the source 
of our greatest difficulty in studying that genus in Eastern America. 
Nearly all the forms now known in our flora have been from time to 
time associated with two or more so-called species, a divergence of 
treatment readily seen between the first and the sixth editions of 
Gray's Manual. In the first edition Carey recognized as American 
species C. vesicaria, L. and C. ampullacea, Good., of Europe. In 
subsequent editions other European species of the group, C. rotun- 
data, Wahl, and C. ulla, Good., were recognized as belonging to 
our flora. Gradually, however, the American plants which once 
passed under those names, have been set apart, one by one, as dis- 
tinctively American species, and for the American Carex vesicaria we 
have C. monile Tuck.; for our C. ampullacea, C. utriculata, Boott ; 
for American C. rotundata and pulla, C. miliaris, Michx. A study of 
some recently collected material has convinced the writer, however, 
that there is little reason for separating many American plants from 
the Old World species which they represent. 
Recent authors have recognized in eastern America three species 
of the saxatilis (pulla) group. Of these C. oligosperma and C. com- 
facta are clearly marked and perhaps of purely American range. 
