1917] Fernald,— Characters and Range of Carex laevivaginata 231 
THE CHARACTERS AND RANGE OF CAREX 
LAEVIVAGINATA. . 
M. L. FERNALD. 
Ix 1909, in his treatment of Carex in Engler's Pflanzenreich, Küken- 
thal described from Biltmore, North Carolina, Carex stipata, var. 
laevivaginata.! In typical C. stipata the broadish flaccid leaves have 
the scarious cross-puckered sheath slightly prolonged at the orifice 
into a very thin membrane; but in var. laevivaginata, as described by 
Kükenthal, the leaves are firmer and narrower (3 mm. broad), with 
the sheath plane (not eross puckered) and thickened at the orifice; 
and the inflorescence is shorter than in typical C. stipata. Subse- 
quently, but without amplification of the characters, Mackenzie has 
elevated the plant to specific rank as C. laevivaginata (Kükenth.) 
Mackenzie ? and has extended the range to Maryland. 
That Carex laevivaginata is a distinct species of definite range now 
seems fairly clear, for a considerable mass of specimens in the Gray 
Herbarium and the Herbarium of the New England Botanical Club 
shows it to have not only the characters already emphasized but some 
othe-s to which attention is here directed, and to occur somewhat 
generally in damp rich woods and swamps of the Alleghanian region. 
The most striking character of the plant, besides its firmer and nar- 
rower leaves and smooth sheaths with firm often cartilaginous orifice, 
is its much greener and simpler inflorescences. In C. stipata the 
crowded often somewhat paniculate inflorescence has a yellowish 
color and in age becomes quite brown; and the perigynia are about 
4 mm. long. In C. laevivaginata, on the other hand, the inflorescence 
is simpler and looser, at first pale-green, but in maturity with a very 
sligh: brownish tinge; and the perigynia are 5-6.5 mm. long, thus 
giving the cylindric head an even more muricate appearance than in 
C. stipata. 
Carex stipata is a plant of the Canadian and Transition Zones, 
occurring in wet habitats from Newfoundland to British Columbia, 
south ward to the District of Columbia, Virginia, the Great Lake states, 
Iowa. Kansas, New Mexico and California; with an extremely large 
1 Kükenth. in Engler, Pflanzenr. iv. Fam. 20, 172 (1909). 
? Mackenzie in Britton & Brown, Ill. Fl. ed. 2, i. 371 (1913). 
