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CAREX ATRATIFORMIS Britton. 
Carex ovata Rudge, Trans. Linn. Soc. 7: 96. p/. 9. 1804. Not 
Burm. 
Carex atrata var. ovata Boott, Ill. 114. 1892. 
This plant appears to me constantly different from the Euro- 
pean C. atrata; I characterize it is as follows: 
Glabrous, culms very slender, erect, sharp-angled, scabrous 
above, 8’—2° tall, leafy only below. Leaves smooth or but 
slightly scabrous, 1/’—114"’ wide, rarely over 6’ long, much shorter 
than the culm; spikes 2-5, dense, oblong or oblong-cylindric, 4’/’— 
12” long, about 214” in diameter, the terminal one usually stami- 
nate at the base and sessile or nearly so, the others filiform- 
stalked and drooping when mature; lower bracts %4’-114’ long, 
very narrow, the upper ones subulate; perigynia flattened, ovate 
or nearly orbicular, puncticulate, ascending, about 1/’ long, tipped 
with a very short minutely 2-toothed beak; scales reddish-brown, 
oblong, obtuse or subacute, slightly narrower than and about 
equalling the perigynia; stigmas 3. 
Newfoundland to the mountains of New England, west to the 
Northwest Territory. . : 
~ CAREX STRICTA XEROCARPA (S. H. Wright). 
Carex xerocarpa S. H. Wright, Am. Journ. Sci. (II.) 42: 334- 
1866. 
This appears to me to be a very well marked variety, if not a 
species distinct from C. stricta Lam. The pistillate spikes are 
almost filiform, loosely flowered and about 1” in diameter. Be- 
sides original specimens collected in central New York by the 
describer of the species, I have it from Illinois, collected by J. 
Wolf. : 
Carex Haypen Dewey, Am. Journ. Sci. (II.) 18: 103. 1854. 
Carex aperta Carey in A. Gray, Man. 547. 1848. Not Boott. 
Carex stricta var. decora Bailey, Coult. Bot. Gaz. 13: 85. 1888. 
Professor Bailey has shown that the plant referred to C. aperta 
Boott, in the earlier editions of Gray’s Manual, is not the same as 
the species of the Northwest to which the name was originally 
applied. I am confident that it is specifically distinct from C. 
stricta. 1 refer it to C. Haydeni with hesitation, although exam- 
ination of an immature authentic specimen indicates that this name 
may be correctly applied to it. The species may be characterized 
as follows: 
