226 Rhodora [November 



these fails to show any characters by which they can be clearly sepa- 

 rated. . C. Haydeni, Dewey (C. aperta, Carey, not Boott. C. stricta, 

 var. decora, Bailey) is often separated specifically, but none of the 

 characters relied upon for its separation are sufficiently constant to 

 justify its specific recognition. All the forms of C. stricta pass too 

 freely into one another, and any division of the species is necessarily 

 arbitrary; but, in the main, the following arrangement will be found 

 to cover the more marked extremes in New England. 



Perigynium elliptic, tapering about equally at tip and base. 



Pistillate spikelets densely flowered, slightly if at all attenuated at 

 base, mostly pistillate throughout: scales blunt, shorter than or 

 equaling, rarely exceeding, the perigynia. 



Pistillate spikelets i to 7 cm. long. C. stricta. 



Pistillate spikelets 0.5 to 1.5 cm. long. C. stricta, var. curtissima. 



Pistillate spikelets rather loosely flowered, long-attenuate at base, 2 



to ta cm. long, the upper often with staminate tips : scales acutish, 



equalling or exceeding the perigynia. C. stricta, var. angustata 



Perigynia obovate to orbicular, rounded at tip, much shorter than the 



attenuate scales: pistillate spikelets mostly dense, 1 to 4 cm. long. 



C. stricta, var. decora. 



Carex trispermax tenuiflora. Leaves and culms blue-green; 

 the former 1.5 to 2 mm. broad; the latter stiff, 3 to 6 dm. high, 

 Sharply triangular ; spike stiff; spikelets 2 to 4, distinct or the upper 

 approximate, the lowest mostly 0.5 to 1.5 cm. apart, elliptic, 4 to 7 

 mm. long, bractless, or the lowermost with a subtending bract which 

 often equals or exceeds the spike : scales ovate, whitish with green 

 midribs, blunt or acutish : perigynia (rarely well developed ) elliptic, 

 3 to ^.2 mm. long, 1.5 mm. broad, about 7-nerved on either face, 

 with a short hyaline beak. — With the two parents, in an arbor-vitae 

 swamp, Fort Fairfield, Maine, July 19, 1902 (£. F. Williams, J. F. 

 Collins, or* M. L. Fernald—l'Unta.e Exsiccatae Grayanae, no. no). 



Exactly intermediate in habit between the two parent species. 

 The color and stiff habit suggest C. tenuiflora ; the frequent long 

 bracts are those of C. trisperma ; while the lowest spikelets are more 

 remote than in C. tenuiflora, but distinctly more approximate than in 

 the more delicate flexuous C. trisperma. The small perigynium, 

 when well developed, is similar to that of C. tenuiflora, but with a 

 definite though short hyaline beak (shorter than in C. trisperma, 

 longer than in C. tenuiflora) ; while the faces are more distinctly 

 nerved than in C. tenuiflora, though less abundantly so than in C. 

 trisperma . 



The following species and varieties, formerly reported from Ver 



