304 



CYPERACEAE 



47. Carex bebbii Olney. 

 Bebb's Sedge. Fig. 71^. 



Carex bebbii Olney; Bailey Bot. Gaz. 10: 379. 1885. 

 Caie.v tribtiloides bebbii Bailey, Mem. Torrey Club 1: 55. 

 1889. 



Densely cespitose, the culms erect, slender, 2-8 

 dm. high, sharply triangular and roughened above. 

 Leaf-blades 2-4.5 mm. wide; head oblong or linear- 

 oblong, 14-28 mm. long, 8-12 mm. thick, the spikes 

 5-10, aggregated, gynaecandrous, brownish tinged, 

 densely many-tiowered, subglobose to broadly ovoid. 

 4-9 mm. long, 3-6 mm. wide, blunt; bracts incon- 

 spicuous ; scales oblong-ovate, acute or short acumin- 

 ate, shorter than perigynia, brownish ; perigynia nar- 

 rowly ovate, plano-convex, ascending, 3-4 mm. long, 

 1.5-2 mm. wide, distended over achene, wing-mar- 

 gined to the rounded base, obscurely nerved, taper- 

 ing into a beak less than half length of body, the 

 beak bidentate, flattened and serrulate nearly to tip ; 

 achenes lenticular; style slender, jointed with the 

 achene ; stigmas 2. 



Low grounds, Arid Transition Zone; Newfoundland to 

 British Columbia south to New Jersey, Montana, and Wash- 

 ington. Type locality: Illinois. 



48. Carex tenera Dewey. Slender Sedge. Fig. 724. 



Carex tenera Dewey, Am. Journ. Sci. 8: 97. 1824. 

 Carex festucacca tenera Carey in A. Gray Man. 545. 1848. 

 Carex straminea tenera Boott, 111. Car. 3: 120. pi. 384. 1862. 

 Carex tenera erecta Olney; Kukenth., in Engler Pflanzenreich 

 4=": 205 (as synonym). 1909. 



Densely cespitose, the culms slender, 3-7.5 dm. high, 

 sharplv triangular, rough above. Leaf -blades 1.5-2.5 

 mm. wide; head 2.5-5 cm. long, more or less strongly 

 moniliform, the spikes 4-8, gynaecandrous, ovoid, 6-10 

 mm. long, 4.5-6 mm. wide, ovoid, rounded at apex, 

 rounded or the terminal one short clavate at base, the 

 10-20 perigynia appressed ; bracts inconspicuous ; scales 

 ovate, acute, shorter than perigynia, hyaline and tawny 

 tinged with green midvein; perigynia ovate, plano- 

 convex, thickish, 3.5 mm. long, nearly 2 mm. wide, 

 green or in age straw-colored, nerved on both faces, 

 rounded and sessile at base, contracted into a beak 

 half length of body, the beak tawny tipped, flat, 

 strongly serrulate and obliquely cut dorsally ; achenes 

 lenticular; style slender, jointed with the achene; 

 stigmas 2. 



Dry soil. Upper Sonoran Zone; Maine to Washington and Ore- 

 gon, south to New Jersey, Illinois, and New Mexico; rare in our 

 range. Type locality: probably western Massachusetts. 



49. Carex brevior (Dewey) Mackenzie 



Shorter-beaked Sedge. 



Fig. 725. 



Carex straminea brevior Dewey, Am. Journ. Sci. 11: 158. 18..6. 

 Carex festucacea Schk. brevior Fernald, Proc. Am. Acad. 37 : 



477. 1902. 

 Carex brevior Mackenzie, Bull. Torrey Club 42: 605. 191 o. 



Cespitose, the culms erect, rather stiff, 3-10 dm. high, 

 sharplv triangular, more or less roughened above. Leaf- 

 blades' flat, 1.5-3 mm. wide; head 1.5-5 cm. long, 7-1j 

 mm. wide, the spikes 3-10, gynaecandrous, aggregated 

 or at times moniliform, subglobose, ovoid or oblong, 

 7-15 mm. long, 5-9 mm. wide, blunt at apex and from 

 rounded to clavate at base, 8-30-flowered ; lowest bract 

 more or less strongly developed; scales ovate, obtuse to 

 short acuminate, shorter than perigynia, brownish with 

 green midvein and hyaline margins; perigynia broadly 

 ovate to suborbicular, plano-convex 4-5.5 mm. long. 

 2.5-3.5 mm. wide, the walls thick, truncate, or rounded 

 at base, strongly nerved dorsally, nerveless or nearly 

 so ventrallv, abruptly narrowed into the flat, strongly 

 serrulate bidentate beak about 1 mm. long; achenes 

 lenticular, sessile, 1.5-2 mm. long; style slender, jomted 

 with the achene, stigmas 2. 



Open sunny places. Transition Zone; New Brunswick to 

 British Columbia, south to Tennessee, Te.\as, New Mexico, and 

 Washington; apparently rare in our area. Type locality: prob- 

 ably western Massachusetts. 



