OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 77 



51. Carex Mertensii, Prescott, Bong. Veg. Sitcha in Mem. Acad. 

 St. Petersb. vi. ser. ii. 168. 



Culm, two feet high, rough on the very sharp angles, very leafy : 

 leaves short, broad, and flat, loosely and conspicuously sheathing, 

 rough : bracts leaf-like, sheathless or nearly so, the lower exceeding 

 the culm : spikes five to eight, an inch or two long, very densely 

 flowered, all more or less staminate at the base, the upper one con- 

 spicuously so, all drooping on filiform scabrous peduncles : perigynium 

 very flat and very broadly ovate, winged, very thin in texture, green 

 or whitish, few-nerved, appressed, much longer and broader than the 

 purple white-ribbed scale : stigmas mostly 3. — Named for Karl Hein- 

 rich Mertens, 1796-1830, of St. Petersburg, who made a botanical 

 voyage around the world. — Marais Pass, Montana, Canhy ; Oregon, 

 Cusick, Hall 599, Henderson ; Washington Terr., Lyall, and northward 

 to Sitka, Mertens. 



52. Carex atrata, Linn. Sp. PL 976. 



White Mts., N. H., and high mountains of Wyoming, Colorado, 

 Utah, Arizona, and California, and northward. Europe. Asia. 

 Var. nigra, Boott, 111. 114. 



G. nigra. All. Fl. Ped. ii. 267. 

 Westward with the last. Europe. 

 Var. ovATA, Boott, 111. 114. 



C. ovata, Rudge, Linn. Trans, vii. 96, t. 9. 

 Mountains of Colorado and Utah southward ; Newfoundland, Rudge, 

 the original locality, but not since found there, so far as I know. 

 Var. ERECTA, W. Boott, Bot. Calif, ii. 239. 

 High mountains of Nevada and California. 



53. Carex Gmelini, Hooker, Bot. Beechey's Voy. 118, t. 27. 

 Differs from C. Buxbaumii, to which it is very closely related, by 



its shorter and thicker spikes, which are ped uncled and darker colored, 

 the ferrugineous and smooth (not granulated) perigynium and the 

 hispid awn of the scale. — Named for Johann Georg Graelin, of St. 

 Petersburg, 1719-55, author of Flora Sibirica. — Oregon, according 

 to Boott, to Alaska, Herb. Siberia. 



54. Carex Buxbaumii, Wahl. Kongl. Acad. Handl. xxiv. 163. 

 Bears the name of Johann Christian Buxbaum, an early European 



botanist, 1693-1730. — Bogs throughout, from Georgia northward 

 and across the continent. Europe. 



B. RigidcB, Fries, Summa, 72. ( Ccespitosce, Fries, 1. c. Stylosce, Bailey, Coulter's 

 Man. 387.) Mostly stiff and rigid species, largely alpine or boreal, with 



