TRbooora 
JOURNAL OF 
THE NEW ENGLAND BOTANICAL CLUB 
Vol. 24. October, 1922. No. 286. 
CAREX LAXIFLORA AND ITS RELATIVES. 
K. M. WIEGAND. 
IT is with much hesitation that the writer ventures a contribution 
to the literature of this perplexing group of sedges which has been a 
subject of special study at one time or another of nearly all our stu- 
dents of the Genus Carex. Work on the flora of Central New 
York has shown, however, that the group is not yet fully understood. 
To.obtain a treatment for these local plants a general study has been 
undertaken and carried through at the Gray Herbarium. The 
herbaria of L. H. Bailey, the New York College of Agriculture, and 
the New England Botanical Club have also been consulted. In 
presenting the results in the following pages it is hoped that our 
understanding of this portion of the genus may be made clearer. 
In the course of the study some new characters have been employed, 
and a few others, though generally used, have been omitted. By 
several recent writers certain species have been characterized as 
having "ancipital" or “flat” culms. However, during a long exper- 
ience in the field, embracing all the northern species except C. ormo- 
stachya, the writer has never seen a plant of the *laxiflora" group 
with ancipital culms, but always with the culms triangular. The 
peduncles, to be sure, are sometimes flat, as long ago noted by Dewey 
(Wood's Class Book), but this is not constant for any species. The 
purple coloration in the basal sheaths has proved a good specific 
character in several species, but is difficult to use as these outer 
sheaths often weather off leaving only the inner which have a brown 
color. Very often however a small fragment of purple may be found 
caught among the shreds of the remaining sheaths. The color of 
