SEDGE FAMILY 



281 



11. SCHOENUS L. Sp. PL 42. 1753. 



Perennial sedges, with stiff, tufted culms, basal, narrow or semitercte leaves, the one- to 

 few-flowered spikelets clustered, capitate or paniculate, the clusters subtended by 1 bract or 

 few. Scales imbricated in 2 series, the lower ones empty, the upper subtending flowers. 

 Perianth of 3-6, scabrous or plumose bristles. Stamens 3. Style slender, scarcely enlarged 

 at the base, 3-cleft, deciduous. Achene trigonous; tubercle none. [Greek, a rush.] 



Sixty species or more, mostly natives of the Old World, the following typical. 



1. Schoenus nigricans L. " | 

 Black Sedge. Fig. 675. ^ 



Sclweniis niyricans L. Sp. PI. 43. 1753. 



Glabrous ; culms 2-7 dm. tall, mostly longer than the leaves. 

 Leaves similar to the culm, stiff, sharp-pointed, semiterete, 0.5-1.5 

 mm. thick, their bases dark brown or nearly black, shining; 

 involucre of 2 bracts, one of them elongated, sometimes 8 cm. 

 long; spikelets about 1 cm. long, in a dense, terminal, capitate 

 cluster, 5-8-flowered, compressed, their scales dark chestnut- 

 brown, or nearly black, lanceolate, carinate, acuminate, somewhat 

 shining ; perianth-bristles 6, plumose ; achene ellipsoid, white, 

 shining, about 2 mm. long; shorter than the bristles. 



About Hot Springs, San Bernardino County, California; Florida; Baha- 

 mas; Cuba; Europe. Type locality: Europe. 



12. KOBRESIA Willd. Sp. PI. 4: 205. 1805. 



Slender arctic and mountain sedges, with erect culms leafy below, and few-flowered spike 

 lets variously clustered. Scales of the spikelets 1-flowered, the lower usually pistillate, and 

 the upper staminate. Stamens 3. Perianth-bristles or perigynium wanting. Ovary oblong, 

 narrowed into a short style ; stigmas 2-3, linear. Achene obtusely angled, sessile. [In honor 

 of Von Kobres, a naturalist of Augsburg.] 



About 30 species, widely distributed in arctic and mountainous regions. Type species, Kobrcsia scirpina 

 Willd. 



1. Kobresia bellardi (All.) Degland. 

 Bellard's Kobresia. Fig. 676. 



Carex bellardi All. Fl. Ped. 2: 264. pi. 92, f. 2. 1785. 



Kobrcsia scirpina Willd. Sp. PI. 4: 205. 1805. 



Kobresia bellardi Degland, in Loisel. Fl. Gall. 2: 626. 1807. 



Culms very slender, 1^.5 dm. tall, longer than the 

 very narrow leaves. Old sheaths fibrillose, brown ; 

 margins of the leaves more or less revolute ; spike 

 subtended by a short bract, or bractless. densely 

 flowered or sometimes interrupted below, 1.5-3 cm. 

 long. 3-4 mm. in diameter; achenes rather less than 

 2 mm. long. 1 mm. thick, appressed. 



Alpine ridge of the Wallowa Mountains, Oregon; British 

 Columbia to Alaska, east to Greenland, south on the Rocky 

 Mountains to New Mexico. Europe and Asia. Type locality: 

 Europe. 



