FERNALD. — VARIATIONS OF BOREAL CARICES. 499 



The coarse American plant, C. communis, Bailey, which until recently 

 passed as C. varia, presents, however, less definite marks of specific dis- 

 tinctness. The most careful analysis of the characters which are sup- 

 posed to separate C. communis (C varia of authors) from C. pilulifera 

 was published by Francis Boott, who inclined to regard the two species 

 as separable. In his discussion of C pilulifera, Boott said : " A C. varia, 

 Muhl. [C communis, Bailey], differt spicis confertis, plurifloris, subinde 

 apice masculis, e viridi-purpureo variegatis ; perigyniis enerviis, rostello 

 semper recto breviore bidentato ; basi styli persistente abrupte compresso- 

 deflexa ; culmo incurvo, basi vaginis foliorum pallide ferrugineis tecto ; 

 foliis viridibus." ^ In discussing C. varia [C. communis, ^aWey^ he 

 said : " A C. pilulifera dilFert inflorescentia laxa ; spicis plus minus re- 

 motis, laxifloris, saepe paucifloris ; perigyniis subinde nervatis, rostro 

 nunc excurvato, bifido ; basi styli persistente recta ; vaginis foliorum 

 purpureis." ^ 



When we analyze these supposed differences in the light of old speci- 

 mens and the abundant modern ones which have accumulated since the 

 publication of Dr. Boott's work, certain traditional marks of separation 

 fail. The large form of the American plant figured by Boott (t. 288) 

 as C. varia, and treated by Bailey as C. commimis and by Britton as C. 

 pedicellata, has the spikelets more remote than in the common European 

 form of C. pilulifera ; but a comparison of this plate with Lange's illus- 

 tration of his C. pilulifera, var. longibracteata (Fl. Dan. xvii. t. 3050) 

 and the figure of C. pilulifera, var. Leesii (Jour. Bot. xix. t. 218), shows 

 that the rarest form of the European plant is not to be distinguished by 

 the crowding of the spikelets from our larger form of C. communis. If, 

 furthermore, we compare Boott's C. varia, var. minor (t. 289), a common 

 plant in America, with the smaller European specimens of C. pilulifera 

 with slightly remote spikelets, no constant difference can be found to sepa- 

 rate them. The plant in America passes by innumerable transitions to 

 the coarsest form (var. longibracteata) , as shown in the large middle speci- 

 men in Boott's t. 289, but in its extreme form, as shown by the smaller 

 specimens in that plate, the spikelets are often subapproximate. A 

 comparison of this plate as well as scores of American specimens such as 

 Eggleston's no. 434: from Middlebury, Vermont ; Brainerd's material 

 from Mt. Mosalamoo, Vermont; no. 4897b of the Biltmore Exsiccatae 

 from Craggy Mt., North Carolina ; Bailey's material of June 13, 1888, 

 from West Harrisville, Michigan, and his no. 187 from Lansing; 



1 HI., II. 96. 2 ibij. 98. 



