SEDGE FA^IILY 



289 



2. Carex engelmannii Bailey. 

 Engelmann's Sedge. Fig. 678. 



Carex cncfcliuaiinii Bailey, Proc. Am. Acad. 22: 132. 1886. 

 Carex paddoensis Suksdorf, Allg. Bot. Zeitschr. 12: 43. 1906. 



Rootstocks slender, tough, elongate, the culms 5-20 cm. high, 

 smooth, brownish-tinged at base. Leaf-blades filiform, 3-15 cm. 

 long, 0.3-0.5 mm. wide, smooth or nearly so, the sheaths loose, 

 many-striate; spike solitary, bractless, ovoid, 10-15 mm. long, 

 6-10 mm. wide, androgynous, densely flowered, the lower three- 

 quarters pistillate with 15-40 ascending perigynia; scales 1- 

 nerved, acute to cuspidate, all except lower shorter than peri- 

 gynia ; perigynia inflated, 4.5-5 mm. long, 2.25 mm. wide, sessile, 

 rounded at base, the walls very thin, glabrous, nerveless, taper- 

 ing at apex into a minute smooth beak, 0.5 mm. long, which is 

 hyaline tipped, and obliquely cut, in age bidentulate; achenes 

 triangular, 1.25 mm. long; stigmas 3. 



Isolated stations on high mountain summits, Hudsonian and Arctic-Alpine 

 Zones; Colorado, Wyoming, Washington, and California (Tulare County). 

 Type locality: Colorado Springs, Cohirado. 



3. Carex breweri Boott. 

 Brewer's Sedge. Fig. 679. 



Carex breiveri Boott, 111. Carex 4: 142. pi. 435. 1867. 



Rootstocks tough, elongate, the culms 1-2.5 dm. high, 

 smooth, brownish-tinged at base. Leaf-blades filiform, but 

 rigid, 5-10 cm. long, less than 1 mm. wide, the sheaths loose, 

 many-striate and scarious ; spike solitary, bractless, ovoid. 

 10-15 mm. long, 6-10 mm. wide, androgynous, densely 

 flowered, the upper third staminate ; scales ovate, 3-nerved, 

 short acuminate, narrower and shorter than perigynia ; peri- 

 gynia strongly inflated, broadly ovoid, 5 mm. long, 3.5 mm. 

 wide, sessile, rounded at base, the walls very thin, glabrous, 

 nerveless, abruptly beaked, the beak smooth, 0.3-1 mm. long, 

 obliquely cut, at length bidentulate ; achenes triangular, 2 mm. 

 long ; stigmas 3. 



High alpine peaks, Arctic-Alpine Zone; Washington and Oregon and 

 south in California on the higher summits of the Sierra Nevada to Mount 

 Whitney. Type locality: Mount Shasta, California. 



4. Carex pyrenaica W'ahl. 



Pyrenaen Sedge. 



Fig. 680. 



Carex pyrenaica Wahl. in Vet. Akad. Handl. Stockholm 24: 139. 1803. 

 Callistachys pyrenaica Heuff. Flora 27: 528. 1844. 



Densely cespitose, the culms 3-20 cm. high, wiry, slender, 

 smooth, longer or shorter than the leaves, brownish at base. 

 Leaves 2-3 to a fertile culm, the blades 2-10 cm. long, 0.25-1 

 mm. wide, involute, attenuate at apex ; spike solitary, andro- 

 gynous, bractless, narrow, 5-20 mm. long, 3-5 mm. wide, many- 

 flowered, the upper part with a few staminate flowers, the 

 lower with 10-many perigynia ; scales ovate, obtusish, shorter 

 than perigynia, chesnut tinged, with narrow hyaline margins, at 

 length deciduous ; perigynia .3-4 mm. long, scarcely 1 mm. wide, 

 compressed orbicular in cross-section, brownish, nerveless, 

 membranaceous, glabrous, rounded and strongly stipitate at base, 

 at full maturity spreading or deflexed. tapering into a smooth 

 beak 0.5 mm. long with a dorsal suture and with obliquely cut 

 hyaline orifice becoming bidentulate ; achenes triangular and 

 stigmas 3. 



Alpine localities, Hudsonian and Arctic-Alpine Zones; Mackenzie and 

 Alaska south to Oregon and Colorado; widely distributed in Eurasia. Tyj)e 

 locality: Europe. 



