184 •• • Rhodora [September 



plant is not always glaucous. In fact the glaucous or non-glaucous 

 foliage is not a satisfactory basis for the separation of C. laxiculmis 

 and C digitalis. The basal leaves, however, seem to furnish a very 

 accessible character, a large series of C. digitalis having the basal 

 leaves from 2 to 5 mm. broad, while an equally full representation of 

 C. laxiculmis shows the basal leaves to vary in breadth from G to 12 

 mm. The western tendency of this species differs from the coastal 

 plant, however, in a character which seems to be fairly constant in 

 the material at hand. True C. laxirnlmis, which occurs from S(juthern 

 Maine to Virginia and Missouri, principally in the coastal states, has 

 perigynia 2.8 to 3 mm. long. The more characteristic plant of the 

 interior, which may well retain the varietal name, copulafa, first ap- 

 plied to an extreme specimen from Michigan, occurs from the Cham- 

 plain Valley in Vermont to Delaware and west to Ohio, Michigan and 

 Ontario, and has the perigynia distinctly larger, 3.3 to 4 mm. long. 



Carex laxifloua Lam., var. leptonervia, n. var. Slender, l.oto 

 7 dm. high: leaves 0.5 to 1 cm. broad: pistillate spikes linear-cylindric, 

 loosely-flowered, 1 to 2.5 cm. long; the 2 or 3 upper crowded at the 

 base of the staminate; the lower remote: perigynia obloug-fusiforni, 

 nerveless or with 1 to 3 faint nerves on each face.— Newfoundland to 

 Ontario, south to northern and central New England, central New 

 York, and Minnesota anil along tlie mountains to North Carolina 

 and Tennessee. A northern extreme of the species differing from all 

 the other varieties of C. laxiflora in its nerveless or only slightly nerved 

 perigvnia. The following from among very numerous specimens 

 examined are characteristic. Newfoundland, Birchy Cove, Bay 

 of Islands, June 22, 1S95 {A. C. Waghome, no. 8): Quebec, Allen's 

 Ravine, Mt. Albert, Gaspe Co., August, 1905 (/. F. Collins d- M. L. 

 Fenmld): Nova ScoTrA, Boylston, July, 1S90 (C. .4. Hamilton): 

 Maixe, low woods. Fort Fairfield, July 0, 1S93 — type {M. L. Femald, 

 no. 14()): New Hampshire, Mt. Washington, altitude 3500 feet, July 

 9, 1888 {E. & C. E. Faxon): Vermont, low ()])en woods, New Haven, 

 June 5, 1898 (E. Brainenl): :MASSArHUSETTS, Shiriey {W. P. Conant): 

 Connecticut, sphagnum bog, Winchester, June 25, 1901 {€.■. IF 

 Bisscll): New York, Pickerel Pond, near Axton, June 29, 1899 

 {Rowlee, Wirgnnd & Hastings); Penn Yan, 1862 (Sartivell): 

 Ontario, Niagara, May 14, 1901 (./. Maroun, no. 33,097): Minne- 

 sota, Two Harbors, June, 1893 (E. P. Slirldon): North Carolina, 

 thickets, Waynesville, June 9, 1897 (Biltmore Herb. no. 1796a): 

 Tennessee, on the higher regions of the Smoky ^Nlts., May, 1844 

 (F. Riigel, no. 103). 



(To be continued.) ' 



