green center, acuminate to cuspidate, concealing perigynia; staminate heads similar 

 but somewhat narrower; lowest bract short-cuspidate, not extending beyond tip of 

 inflorescence; perigynia appressed-ascending, ovate-lanceolate, 3-4.5 mm. long, 

 1.7 mm. wide, straw-colored to brownish, plano-convex, coriaceous, lightly nerved 

 ventrally, strongly nerved dorsally, rounded and short-stipitate at base, sharp- 

 edged, serrulate above middle, the beak obliquely cut dorsally, in age minutely 

 bidentate, the apex hyaline; achenes lenticular, obovate, brown, shiny, about 1.7 

 mm. long, 1.2 mm. wide; style and 2 stigmas conspicuous at flowering time. 



Wet meadows, in wet mud and on seepage banks or dryish alkaline flats, in 

 N.M. (Taos Co.) and Ariz. (Coconino, Mohave and Cochise cos.); Can. to N.M., 

 Ariz, and Calif. 



2. Carex simulata Mack. Short-beaked sedge. Fig. 256. 



Culms 2.5-5.5 dm. tall, sharply triangular and roughened on the angles above, 

 overtopping the leaves; leaf blades 2-4 mm. wide, flat or channeled, light-green; 

 spikes densely aggregated into a linear-oblong or oblong-ovoid head 12-25 mm. 

 long and 5-10 mm. thick, wholly pistillate, wholly staminate or pistillate and partly 

 staminate above, the lower spikes distinguishable; bracts absent or if present then 

 shorter than head, cuspidate and enlarged at base; pistillate scales concealing 

 perigynia, cuspidate or short-awned, brown with narrow hyaline margin and prom- 

 inent lighter midvein; perigynia ascending, unequally biconvex to plano-convex, 

 broadly ovate, smooth, shining, coriaceous, yellowish brown to chestnut-colored, 

 1.75-2.25 mm. long, 1.5 mm. wide, rounded and short-stipitate at base, sharp- 

 edged, nerveless ventrally. slenderly few-nerved dorsally, the upper part of the 

 body and beak serrulate (sometimes only sparingly so), the beak obliquely cut 

 dorsally, its apex at length minutely bidentate and slightly hyaline; achenes 

 lenticular, obovoid, yellowish-brown, 1 mm. long. 



Wet meadows, streams, swales, or marshes, in N.M. (Grant and Sandoval cos.) 

 and Ariz. (Apache and Santa Cruz cos.); Mont, to Wash., s. to N.M., Ariz, and 

 Calif. 



3. Carex praegracilis W. Boott. Clustered field sedge. Fig. 257. 



Perennial; rhizomes 2-4 mm. thick, blackish, fibrous, creeping (but with inter- 

 nodes only 1 mm. long); culms rising at close intervals, 12-30 cm. long, 1-3 mm. 

 thick, leafy; blades mostly folded, long-tapered to a fine point, the uppermost ones 

 usually slightly exceeding the inflorescence; inflorescence 15-45 mm. long, 6-10 

 mm. thick, of about 6 to 15 short glomeriform androgynous spikes, the lower 1 

 or 2 spikes usually weakly separated from the rest; scales hyaline marginally, 

 acuminate, longer than the perigynia; perigynia (about 10 per spike) plano-convex, 

 ascending, thin-coriaceous and brownish black when mature and with sharp 

 coriaceous margins, the body obovate or ovate, 3-4 mm. long, 1.5-2 mm. broad, 

 tapering into a serrulate beak half the length of the body or more; achene lentic- 

 ular, about 1.3 mm. long, 1 mm. wide. 



In wet meadows and water of streams and lakes, infrequent in moist canyons 

 of basaltic mts. at elev. of 4,000-8,000 ft. in the Tex. Trans-Pecos (Chisos and 

 Davis mts.), N.M. (Grant and Sandoval cos.) and Ariz. (Apache to Mohave, s. 

 to Cochise and Pima cos.), spring-early summer; temp. w. N.A., in mts. s. to 

 Mexico City. 



4. Carex disperma Dewey. 



Loosely tufted from long slender rhizomes; culms very slender and weak, 6-60 

 cm. high, mostly exceeding the leaves, usually nodding; leaves thin, soft and flat, 

 0.75-2 mm. wide; sheaths tight, very thin and hyaline ventrally; spikes 2 to 4, 

 androgynous, the lower separate, the upper aggregated, with 1 to 3 (or the ter- 

 minal with 3 to 6) perigynia and 1 or 2 apical inconspicuous staminate flowers; 



499 



