SEDGE FAMILY 



291 



8. Carex vernacula Bailey. 

 Vernacular or Native Sedge. Fig. 684. 



Carex foctida W. Boott in S. Wats. Bot. Calif. 2: 232. 18S0. Not 



All. 

 Carex vernacula Bailey, Bull. Torrey Club 20: 417. 1893. 

 Carex foetida z-eruacula (Bailey J Kukenth. in Engler Pflanzenreich 



4=»: 115. 1909. 



Rootstocks creeping, lignescent, dark-colored, the culms 

 in small clumps, 1-2 dm. high, smooth, usually exceeding 

 the leaves. Leaf-blades 5-12 cm. long, 2-4 mm. wide, stiff ; 

 spikes few to several, androgynous, aggregated into a very 

 dense nearly orbicular head, about 1 cm. in diameter, the 

 spikes not distinguishable and the staminate flowers in- 

 conspicuous ; scales ovate, rather wider and longer or 

 shorter than perigynia, brown, sharp-pointed ; perigynia 

 ovoid, 3.5^ mm. long, 1.5 mm. wide, spreading, plano- 

 convex, membranaceous, scarcely inflated, not margined, 

 rounded and short stipitate at base, more or less nerved, 

 tapering into the smooth obliquely cut, somewhat biden- 

 tate beak, one-third length cjf body, with closed dorsal 

 suture; achenes lenticular; stigmas 2. 



Alpine slopes, Hudsonian and Arctic- Alpine Zones; Washington 

 south to Mount Whitney, California, and east to Wyoming and Colo- 

 rado. Type locality: western United States. 



9. Carex doiiglasii Boott. 

 Dotigias's Sedge. Fig. 685. 



Carex donglasii Boott in Hook. Fl. Bor. Am. 2: 213. pi. 214. 1840. 

 Carex nuttallii Dewey, Am. Journ. Sci. 43: 92. pi. 2, f. 97. 1842. 

 Carex meckii Dewey, Am. Journ. Sci. II. 24: 48. 1857. 

 Carex irrasa Bailey, Bot. Gaz. 25: 271. 1898. 



Rootstocks slender but tough, brownish, the culms 6-30 cm. 

 high, smooth, obtusely triangular, light brownish at base. Leaf- 

 blades 1-2.5 mm. wide, flat or channelled at base; heads dioeci- 

 ous or nearly so; spikes few-many, densely aggregated; lower 

 1-several bracts developed ; staminate spikes linear-elliptic, 8-15 

 mm. long, 2.5^ mm. wide, the scales straw-colored or brownish, 

 pointed; pistillate spikes wider, the scales ovate to lanceolate, 

 concealing the perigynia, yellowish brown with broad hyaline 

 margins and lighter center ; perigynia appressed-ascending, lan- 

 ceolate, 4 mm. long, 1.75 mm. wide, plano-convex, coriaceous, 

 sharp-edged, lightly nerved ventrally, strongly nerved dorsalh, 

 rounded and short stipitate at base, tapering into the strongly 

 serrulate beak nearly 2 mm. long, its apex hyaline, obliquely 

 cut and with closed suture dorsally, in age bidentate ; achenes 

 lenticular ; styles elongate ; stigmas 2. 



Dry or alkaline soil, Upper Sonoran and Arid Transition Zones; Mani- 

 toba to New Me.xico, westward to California and British Columbia. Type 

 locality: Northwest Coast. 



10. Carex stenophylla AA^ahl. 



Involute-leaved Sedge. 



Fig. 686. 



Carex stenophylla Wahl. in Vet. Acad. Handl. Stockholm 24: 142. 1803. 

 Carex eleocharis Bailey, Mem. Torrey Club 1 : 6. 1889. 



Rootstocks long-creeping, slender, brownish, the culms arising 

 one-few together, 5-20 cm. high, slender, obtusely triangular, nor- 

 mally smooth, light brownish at base, exceeding leaves. Leaf- 

 blades 1.5 mm. wide at the base, involute above; spikes few, densely 

 aggregated into a head 7-15 mm. long; lower bracts little developed, 

 shorter than head ; scales slightly exceeding perigynia, ovate, acute, 

 brownish with broad white hyaline margins ; perigynia few to a 

 spike, ascending, coriaceous, plano-convex, 3 mm. long, 1.75 mm. 

 wide, blackish at maturity, the body ovate, shining, more or less 

 strongly nerved at least dorsally, rounded at base, sharp edged but 

 not margined, contracted into a short serrulate beak which is 

 obliquely cut, and with closed suture dorsally. the apex at length 

 bidentulate; achenes lenticular; styles short; stigmas 2. 



Dry soil, Canadian Zone; Manitoba to Yukon, south to Iowa, New Mexico, 

 Utah, and eastern Oregon. Type locality: Europe. 



