SEDGE FAMILY 



293 



14. Carex siccata Dewey. 

 Dry Sedge. Fig. 690. 



Carex siccata Dewey, Am. Journ. Sci. 10: 278. pi. F, f. IS. 1826. 



Rootstocks long-creeping, light brown, slender but tough, the culm.^ 

 arising singly or in small clumps, 2-9 dm. high, rough above, exceed- 

 ing leaves, stiff, dark tinged at base. Leaf-blades 2-3 mm. wide, flat 

 or channelled ; spikes 6-12, closelj- aggregated except the lower 1-3 in 

 a linear-oblong head 2-3.5 cm. long, 5-10 mm. wide, some or all 

 the spikes gynaecandrous or staminate and some pistillate or androg- 

 ynous; lower bracts developed but shorter than head; scales shorter 

 than perigynia, lance-ovate, acute, fulvous, green-keeled with very 

 broad white hyaline margins ; perigynia appressed-ascending, plano- 

 convex, sharp- or wing-margined at least above, 5-6 mm. long, 2 mm. 

 wide, light green, much flattened, coriaceous, many-nerved on both 

 faces, spongy and short stipitate at base, serrulate on the margins 

 above, contracted into a sharply bidentate beak nearly as long as 

 the body ; achenes lenticular ; stigmas 2. 



Dry soil. Transition, Canadian and Hudsonian Zones; Maine to New Jersey, 

 west to Washington (Kittitas County) and south in the mountains to Arizona. 

 Erroneously recorded from California. Type locality: Westfield, Massachusetts. 



15. Carex macrocephala . W'illd. 



Large-headed Sedge. 



Fig. 



69L 



Care.v macrocephala Willd. Spreng. Syst. 3: 808. 1826. 

 Care.r anthericoides Presl. Reliq. Haenk. 1: 204. 1828. 



Culms few together from elongated rootstocks, long- 

 fibrillose at base, 1.5-3.5 dm. high, stout, often strongly 

 roughened on the angles. Leaf-blades 4-8 mm. wide, the 

 margins minutely but sharply serrulate; heads usually dioeci- 

 ous, the pistillate very large, 4-6 cm. long, 2.5-5 cm. thick, 

 ovoid-orbicular to oblong, the spikes very numerous, several- 

 many flowered, closely aggregated and scarcely distinguish- 

 able, 1.5 cm. long, 6-9 mm, wide; bracts from little to very 

 strongly developed ; staminate heads about 4 cm. long and 

 1 cm. wide ; pistillate scales ovate, cuspidate or acuminate, 

 exceeded by perigynia, striate, brownish with green center 

 and hyaline margins ; perigynia plano-convex, at length 

 spreading, 10-15 mm. long, coriaceous, the body 4-6 mm. 

 wide. 6-8 mm. long, rounded and somewhat spongy at base, 

 tapering into a beak of about its own length, strongly many- 

 nerved on both faces, and with an irregularly cut membranace- 

 ous raised wing margin, the beak sharply bidentate, smooth 

 above ; achenes obtusely triangular, thick, short-oblong, 4 

 mm. long, constricted in middle ; style slightly enlarged at 

 base, slender, jointed with achene ; stigmas 3, very long. 



Sands along the seacoast. Humid Transition and Canadian Zones; 

 Oregon to Alaska, and on the Asiatic coast southward to northern China 

 and Japan. Type locality: Asia. 



16. Carex hoodii Boott. 



692. 



Hood's Sedge 



Fig. 



1840. 



Care.v hoodii Boott in Hook. Fl. Bor. Am. 2: 211. pi. 211. 

 Care.v muricata confi.va Bailey, Bot. Gaz. 10: 203. 1883. 

 Care.v hoodii ticrzosa Bailey, Bull. Torrey Club 1: 14. 1889. 



\"ery densely cespitose, the culms 2)-6 dm. high, slender, but 

 rather stiff, rough above, brownish at base. Leaf-blades 1.5- 

 3.5 mm. wide, flat, the sheaths thin at mouth, not prolonged 

 beyond base of blade ; head capitate, orbicular or oblong-ovoid, 

 1-2 cm. long. 8-15 mm. wide, the spikes several, androgynous 

 with 5-10 ascending perigynia ; lower bracts more or less devel- 

 oped ; scales about length of perigynia, ovate, sharp-pointed, 

 chestnut-brown with lighter keel and broad hyaline margins ; 

 perigynia plano-convex, lance-ovate, green, more or less brown- 

 ish-tinged, membranaceous, smooth, 4-5 mm. long, 1.75-2 mm. 

 wide, obsoletely nerved ventrally towards the base, green- 

 margined above, serrulate to the middle, somewhat spongy at 

 base, contracted into a sharply bidentate beak half the length 

 of the body; achenes lenticular; stigmas 2. 



Mountain meadows and slopes, Arid Transition and Canadian Zones; 

 Alberta to Colorado, westward to California (Sierra Nevada* and north to 

 British Columbia. Type locality: Columbia River. 



