sessile androgynous brownish essentially bractless spikes each with 8 to 13 peri- 

 gynia; scales narrower and shorter than the perigynia; perigynia bodies obovate 

 or obpyramidal, plano-convex, firm, 1.5-2.5 mm. long, nearly as broad, sharp- 

 edged laterally; beak abrupt, 0.3-0.5 mm. long, bidentate; achene lenticular, very 

 closely enveloped, about 1 mm. long and wide. 



Rare in wet areas, usually on rotten logs at lake-margins, n.e. Tex. (Marion 

 and Wood cos.), spring; e. U.S. n. to N.Y. and Mich., w. to Mo. and Tex. 



8. Carex vulpinoidea Michx. Fig. 258. 



Densely matted rhizomatous perennial; rhizomes 2-4 mm. thick, dark-brown 

 or black, fibrous, internodes only 1-2 mm. long; culms 35-70 (-90) cm. long, 

 1.5-3.5 mm. thick, erect; sheaths tight, ventrally papery, strongly and closely 

 transversely wrinkled, at the orifice firm and rounded; leaf blades diverse, the lower 

 ones only 5-10 cm. long, the upper very long and equaling or surpassing the 

 heads, tapered to a setaceous tip; inflorescence interrupted-spiciform, 35-80 mm. 

 long, 7-13 mm. thick, of 10 to 15 short sessile androgynous spikes (each with 15 

 to 30 perigynia), all except the lowermost bractless (in var. platycarpa Hall) or 

 with setaceous bracts 10-30 (-80) mm. long (in var. vulpinoidea): scales papery, 

 lanceolate, acute, about equaling or usually a little shorter than their perigynia; 

 perigynial bodies ovate to suborbicular, 2.5-3 mm. long, 2-3 mm. broad, strongly 

 compressed, mostly flat ventrally, very slightly convex dorsally, smooth or usually 

 serrulate marginally, ventrally usually with a few veins and often on both faces 

 at maturity becoming brownish and firm-membranous; beak of perigynium either 

 abruptly difi'erentiated from and only about a third as long as the body (var. 

 platycarpa) or less abrupt and about half as long as the body (var. vulpinoidea), 

 bidentate. serrulate or entire-margined; achene lenticular, about 1.3 mm. long, 

 1 mm. wide. C. triangularis Boeck., C. annectans Bickn. 



In low wet woods and swamps in wet mud on edge of lakes, ponds and streams; 

 the var. platycarpa Hall is frequent in Okla. (Johnston, Alfalfa. McCurtain, Adair, 

 Caddo, Haskell and Atoka cos.) and in e. and s.e. Tex., rare in n.-cen. Tex. 

 (Denton Co.); var. vulpinoidea is rare in the Tex. Plains Country (Dallam and 

 Hemphill cos.), N.M. (San Miguel Co.) and Ariz. (Apache and Cochise cos.), 

 spring (var. platycarpa) or summer (var. vulpinoidea); e. temp. N.A. w. to the 

 Rocky Mts.; also B.C., Wash, and Ore. 



9. Carex alma Bailey. 



Cespitose from short-prolonged stout rootstocks; culms aphyllopodic, 3-12 dm. 

 high, roughened above, exceeding the leaves; leaves clustered toward the base, 

 thickish, flat or channeled, 3-6 mm. wide, the margins strongly serrulate; sheaths 

 tight, somewhat septate-nodulose dorsally, thin and purplish-dotted ventrally, the 

 ligule about as wide as long; spikes densely aggregated into an oblong head 3-12 

 cm. long, the lower sometimes separate, the individual spikes seldom distinguish- 

 able, the perigynia appressed; scales ovate, about the size of the perigynia. straw- 

 colored or brownish with white-hyaline margins, the midrib prominent, awned to 

 acute; perigynia plano-convex, ovate to oblong-ovate, 3.5-4 mm. long, 1.6-1.8 

 mm. wide, almost black at maturity, obscurely nerved on both surfaces, round- 

 truncate at the base, substipitate, narrowly sharp-margined and serrulate above, 

 more or less abruptly contracted into a serrulate bidentate beak about one-third 

 the length of the body, the triangular teeth very short; achenes lenticular, ovoid, 

 1.5 mm. long, substipitate. 



In wet soil along streams, in Ariz. (Gila, Maricopa and Cochise cos.); also 

 Nev. and Calif. 



504 



