308 



CYPERACEAE 



59. Carex leporinella Mackenzie. 



Fig. 735. 



Sierra Hare Sedge. 



Carex leporinella Mackenzie, Bull. Torrey Club 43: 605. 1917. 



Very densely cespitose from short-creeping rootstocks. the cuhiis 

 1.5-3 dm. high, smooth, exceeding leaves. Leaves bunched near the 

 base, the blades 1.5-2 mm. wide, more or less involute; spikes 3-6, 

 gynaecandrous, forming a head 1.5-3 cm. long, the spikes narrowly 

 oblong-oval, 6-15 mm. long, 3-5 mm. wide, short clavate at base, the 

 perigynia 8-20, appressed ; lowest bract occasionally somewhat devel- 

 oped ; scales ovate, covering perigynia, acute, reddish-brown with 

 lighter midvein and hyaline margins ; perigynia linear-lanceolate, boat- 

 shaped, 4 mm. long, scarcely 1 mm. wide, very narrowly margined, 

 serrulate above middle, finely striate dorsally, few nerved ventrally, 

 tapering at base and at apex into the short (1 mm. long) beak, which 

 is terete and smooth above, hyaline at apex and obliquely cut dorsally; 

 achenes lenticular; style slender, articulated to achene ; stigmas 2. 



I Summits of high mountains. Hudsonian and Arctic-Alpine Zones; Washington to 



-i- California, where confined to the Sierra Nevada. Type locality: Pyramid Peak, El- 

 t dorado County, California. 



60. Carex microptera Mackenzie. 

 Small-v^inged Sedge. 



Fig. 736. 



Carex microptera Mackenzie, Muhlenbergia 5: 56. 1909. 



Cespitose, the rootstocks short, stout, the culms 5-10 dm. high, 

 smooth. Leaf-blades flat, 2-3.5 mm. wide; head ovoid or sub- 

 orbicular, 12-18 mm. long, 10-16 mm. wide, the spikes 5-10, ovoid, 

 closely aggregated, 5-8 mm. long, 4-6 mm. wide, gynaecandrous, 

 15-30- flowered; bracts little developed; scales ovate-lanceolate, 

 acute, shorter than perigynia, brown with lighter midvein ; perigynia 

 lanceolate, 3.5-4 mm. long, 1-1.5 mm. wide, plano-convex, narrowly 

 margined, ascending with ascending or somewhat spreading tips, 

 light brownish or straw-colored, lightly nerved, rounded at base, 

 tapering into the serrulate beak, one-third to one-half the length of 

 the body, obliquely cut dorsally and becoming shallowly bidentate, 

 the tip more or less hyaline; achenes lenticular, jointed with the 

 slender style ; stigmas 2. 



Mountains, Transition and Canadian Zones; Alberta to Colorado, west to 

 eastern Oregon and Washington. Type locality: Deeth, Elko County, Nevada. 



61. Carex festivella Mackenzie. 

 Mountain Meadow Sedge. Fig. 737. 



Carex festiva Bailey, Proc. Am. Acad. 22: 153 (in greater jiart). 1SS6; 



not Dewey. 

 Carex festivella Mackenzie, Bull. Torrey Club 42: 609. 1915. 



Cespitose, the culms slender, mostly annual, 3-10 dm. high, 

 smooth or roughened beneath the head. Leaf-blades 2-6 mm. 

 wide; spikes 5-20, densely aggregated into a suborbicular to 

 oblong-ovoid head 12-25 mm. long, 10-18 mm wide, the spikes 

 ovoid, 5-12 mm. long, 4-8 mm. wide; bracts inconspicuous; 

 scales ovate, obtuse to acutish, shorter than perigynia, dark- 

 chestnut to brownish black with light midvein ; perigynia 15-30 

 to a spike, appressed, 3.75-5 mm. long, 1.5-2 mm. wide, ovate, 

 flat except where distended by achene, straw-colored or light 

 brownish at maturity, winged, lightly nerved ventrally, taper- 

 ing into a serrulate shallowly bidentate beak one-third length 

 of whole, the beak terete and more or less hyaline tipped at 

 apex, fissured and obliquely cut dorsally; achenes lenticular; 

 style slender, jointed with achene; stigmas 2. 



Meadows and mountain sides. Transition Zone; Alberta to New Mexico, 

 west to Arizona, the Sierra Nevada of California, eastern Oregon and 

 British Columbia. Type locality: Albany County, Wyoming. 



