SEDGE FAMILY 



303 



44. Carex fracta Mackenzie. 

 Fragile-sheathed Sedge. Fig. 720. 



Carex: sbecifica f. brevi-fructiis Kiikenth. Engler Pflanzenr. 4-": 199. 1909. 

 Caiex specifica Mackenzie Bull. Torrey Club 43: 602. 1917; not Bailey. 

 Carex fracta Mackenzie, Erythea 8: 38. 1922. 



Densely cespitose, the culms 5-12 dm. high, obtusely tri- 

 angular, smooth or nearly so, the lower nodes not exposed. 

 Leaf-blades 3-5 mm. wide, flat, the sheaths very thin ven- 

 trally, strongly prolonged at mouth above insertion of blade, 

 fragile and soon breaking; head 2.5-7.5 cm. long, the spikes 

 7-15, greenish, aggregated or the lower slightly separate, short 

 oblong or obovoid, 8-12 mm. long, 5-7 mm. wide, rounded or 

 short clavate at base, rounded at apex, the 15-30 perigynia 

 appressed or ascending in age; bracts inconspicuous; scales 

 lance-ovate, acuminate or cuspidate, shorter than perigynia, 

 greenish with hyaline margins; perigynia lance-ovate, 3-4.5 

 mm. long, thickish over achene, greenish, strongly nerved 

 ventrally, round-tapering to a stipitate base, narrowly mar- 

 gined, serrulate above, tapering into the flat, serrulate biden- 

 tate beak nearly length of body ; achenes lenticular ; style 

 slender, jointed to achene; stigmas 2. 



Washington to southern California. Type locality: Mount Shasta, 

 California. 



45. Carex crawfordii Fernald. Crawford's Sedge. 



Fig. 721. 



Carex scoparia minor Boott, 111. Car. 3: 116. pi. 369. 1862. 



Carex crawfordii Fernald, Proc. Am. Acad. 37: 469. 1902. 



Carex crawfordii vigens Fernald, Proc. Am. Acad. 37: 470. 

 1902. 



Densely cespitose, the culms slender, 2-3.5 dm. 

 high, acutely triangular, roughened above. Leaf- 

 blades 1-3 mm. wide; leaves of sterile shoots not 

 very numerous, the blades erect or ascending; spikes 

 3-12, rather closely aggregated into an ovoid or 

 linear-oblong head 12-26 mm. long, 4-8 mm. wide, the 

 spikes light brownish, oblong to suborbicular, 10-18 

 mm. long, 6-10 mm. wide, gynaecandrous, many- 

 flowered tapering at base, bluntly tapering at apex ; 

 lower 1-2 bracts developed but not conspicuous ; 

 scales ovate, acute or short acuminate, thin, shorter 

 than perigynia, brown with hyaline margins ; peri- 

 gynia subulate, thin but distended over achene. the 

 margin at base nearly obsolete, 4 mm. long, about 

 1 mm. wide at base, erect-ascending with erect 

 beak, obscurely nerved on both faces, rounded at 

 base, tapering into the serrulate bidentate beak half 

 the length of the body; achenes lenticular, jointed 

 with the slender style ; stigmas 2. 



Open places. Transition Zone: Newfoundland to British 

 Columbia south to New Jersey, Michigan, and Washington. 

 Type locality: base of White Mountains, New Hampshire. 



46. Carex scoparia Schk. Pointed Broom Sedge 



Carex scoparia Schk.: Willd. Sp. P\. 4: 230. 1805. 



Carex iagopodioides scoparia Boeckl. Linnaea 39: 114. 1875. 



Cespitose, the culms 1.5-8 dm. high, slender, erect, 

 roughened above. Leaf-blades 1.5-3 mm. wide; leaves 

 of sterile shoots not very numerous, the blades erect 

 or ascending; spikes 3-10, closely aggregated or scat- 

 tered, 6-16 mm. long, 4-6 mm. wide, gynaecandrous. 

 brownish or straw-colored, narrowed at base, narrowed 

 or sometimes truncate at apex, densely many flowered ; 

 lower bracts inconspicuous ; scales ovate, shorter than 

 the perigynia. thin, acute or acuminate, straw-colored or 

 light brownish with narrow hyaline margins ; perigynia 

 lanceolate, very thin, narrowly wing-margined, 4-6.5 mm. 

 long, 1.2-1.9 mm. wide, erect-ascending with appressed 

 beak, nerved on both faces, round-tapering at base, 

 tapering into the serrulate bidentate beak, half the 

 length of the body; achenes lenticular, jointed with the 

 slender style ; stigmas 2. 



Moist soil, Arid Transition Zone; Newfoundland to British Co- 

 lumbia south to North Carolina, Missouri, Colorado, and Oregon. 

 Type locality : Boreal America. 



