2.5 mm. long, 1.5 mm. wide, continuous with the basally curved style which 

 basally has the same porcelaneous texture as the achene. 



In wet meadows, swamps, ditches, edge of sloughs, lakes and ponds, and in 

 mud of streams in Okla. (Waterfall) and in s.e. (Brazoria and Colorado cos.), e. 

 (Bowie and Gonzales cos.) and n.-cen. (Dallas and Tarrant cos.) Tex., Apr-May; 

 Ont. and e. U.S. w. to Mich., Neb., Okla. and Tex. 



45. Carex comosa Boott. Bristly sedge. Fig. 269. 



Mat-forming perennial with short branching rhizomes; culms 5-13 dm. long, 

 erect, 3-10 mm. thick basally; lower sheaths brownish-stramineous; blades 6-12 

 mm. broad; spikes 4 or 5 per culm, overlapping for most of their lengths; upper- 

 most spike staminate, 25-50 mm. long, 3-5 mm. thick, brownish-stramineous; 

 lower spikes pistillate, nearly horizontal by virtue of a sharp bend at the top of 

 each peduncle, bristly, the lowest one 35-50 mm. long, 12-15 mm. thick, with 65 

 to 130 spreading or even slightly deflexed close perigynia; bracts sheathless, the 

 lowest one with a blade far-surpassing the inflorescence the rest progressively 

 reduced; pistillate scales with very small pale brown bodies with the pale mid- 

 veins extending into rough awns usually shorter than the perigynia, deciduous 

 with the perigynia; perigynia lance-acuminate, in transection vaguely triangular 

 or somewhat dorsiventrally flattened, 4-7 mm. long, stramineous, firm-membra- 

 nous, with 2 ribs and 14 or 15 prominent nerves slightly narrower than the spaces 

 between, basally narrowly rounded, acuminate into a slender beak almost as long 

 as the very slightly inflated body and with 2 terminal arcuate-divaricate teeth; 

 achene triangular, about 1.5 mm. long, 1 mm. wide, apically continuous with the 

 long slender persistent style which proximally has much the same porcelaneous 

 texture as the achene itself. 



Rare in lakes, marshes and ponds, in e. Tex. (Wood Co.), Apr.-June; otherwise 

 s.e. Can. and e. U.S. w. to Minn., Neb., Mo. and Tex.; also Ida., Wash., Ore. and 

 Calif. 



46. Carex hystericina Muhl. Porcupine caric-sedge, bottle-brush caric-sedge. 



Perennial with rhizomes 1.5-2.5 mm. thick and several cm. long; culms tufted 

 at intervals along the rhizome, 2-8 dm. long, 1-3.5 mm. thick, erect; lower sheaths 

 stramineous, rarely with a reddish-tinge; blades 2.5-9 mm. broad; spikes 3 to 4 

 (to 6) per culm, mostly overlapping or the lower one or 2 somewhat remote; upper- 

 most spike staminate (rarely androgynous), 15-35 mm. long, 3-4 mm. thick, 

 stramineous; lower spikes pistillate (some upper ones infrequently androgynous), 

 bristly, the lowest one erect or nodding slightly, 15-35 mm. long, 8-12 mm. thick, 

 with 35 to 70 close spreading (at maturity) perigynia; bracts sheathless, the blades 

 of the lowest one often surpassing the terminal spikes, the higher ones progressively 

 much-reduced; the stramineous scales almost as long as the perigynia and with 

 ovate hyaline bodies and long subulate cusps or awns; perigynia lance-acuminate, 

 in transection nearly round or (when immature or pressed) dorsiventrally flattened, 

 5-7 mm. long, stramineous-membranous, with 2 nerves or weak ribs and 12 to 14 

 fine nerves much narrower than the spaces between them, basally narrowly 

 rounded, acuminate into a slender strongly bidentate beak about half as long as 

 the inflated body; achene triangular, about 1.8 mm. long, 1.2 mm. wide, the 

 sides concave in the lower part, continuous with the long persistent slender style 

 which basally has much the same porcelaneous texture as the achene itself. 



In swampy meadows and in calcareous mud of stream beds in Okla. ( Waterfall) 

 and Tex., in the mts. of the Trans-Pecos, rare e. to the Plains Country and Edwards 

 Plateau, N. M. (San Miguel Co.) and Ariz. (Apache, Navajo, Coconino and Mari- 

 copa COS.), summer; s. Can. and n. U.S. s. to Va., Ky., Okla., Tex., N.M., Ariz, 

 and Calif; Coah. Sometimes incorrectly spelled "hystricina". 



527 



