SEDGE FAMILY 



311 



68. Carex pachystachya Cham. 

 Thick-headed Sedge. Fig. 744. 



Carex pachystachya Cham.; Steud. Synop. Cyper. iy7. 1855. 

 Carex fcstiva pachystachya Bailey, Mem. Torrey Club 1: 51. 1889. 

 Carex olympica Mackenzie, Bull. Toney Club 43: 610. 1917. 



Densely cespitose, the short rootstocks conspicuously 

 fibrillose, the culms erect, slender, 1.5-3 dm. high, smooth. 

 Leaf-blades 1-4 mm. wide; head 12-24 mm. long, the spikes 

 3-8.gynaecandrous, densely aggregated or tlie lower more or less 

 separated, ovoid or suborbicular, 4-8 mm. long, 4-6 mm. wide, 

 the 8-30 perigynia ascending or in age more or less spreading; 

 bracts inconspicuous ; scales ovate, shorter than the peri- 

 gynia. chestnut-brown with lighter midvein and slightly 

 hyaline margins ; perigynia ovate, strongly plano-convex, 

 thickish, 3.5-5 mm. long, 1.5-2 mm. wide, greenish or in age 

 olive-brown, rounded at base, nerveless or nearly so ventrally. 

 narrowly winged, the body little serrulate, contracted into a 

 beak about half length of body, obliquely cut dorsally. and 

 terete and nearly smooth at apex; achenes lenticular, jointed 

 with the slender style ; stigmas 2. 



A very variable species extending from the Aleutian Islands south to 

 Colorado and northern California; abundant in parts of Washington and 

 Oregon; Tansition and Canadian Zones. Type locality: Unalaska. 



69. Carex amplectens Mackenzie. 

 Clasping-bracted Sedge. Fig. 745. 



Carex amplectens Mackenzie, Bull. Torrey Club 43: 611. 1917. 



Cespitose, the culms stifif. 5-8 dm. high, slightly roughened 

 above, the sterile shoots well-developed. Leaf-blades 2.5-4 mm. 

 wide, the sheaths rather loose ; head 2.5-3.5 cm. long, the 6-12 

 spikes approximate or the lower slightly separate, ovoid or 

 oblong-ovoid, 7-15 mm. long, 4-5 mm. wide, short clavate and 

 sparingly staminate at base, the 15-35 perigynia closely ap- 

 pressed; bracts conspicuous, dilated at base, closely appressed to 

 spikes, the lower 3 or 4 usually prolonged and from nearly 

 equalling to exceeding head; scales ovate, acute or short-cuspi- 

 date, shorter than perigynia, greenish and slightly tawny tinged, 

 the midvein prominent; perigynia ovate, 3.5^ mm. long, 1.75 

 mm. wide, light green, rounded and contracted at base, mar- 

 gined, several nerved on both faces, strongly serrulate, contracted 

 into a beak one-third to one-half length of body, the tip slightly 

 tawny-tinged and obliquely cut dorsally ; achenes lenticular, 

 jointed to the slender style; stigmas 2. 



In the Sierra Nevada of California, Transition Zone; Shasta Cot:nty to 

 Tulare County. Type locality: Lover's Leap, Eldorado County, California. 



70. Carex harfordii Mackenzie. 



746. 



Harford's Sedge 



Fig. 



Carex fcstiva stricta Bailey, Mem. Torrey Club 1: 51 (at least in part). 

 Carex harfordii Mackenzie, Bull. Torrey Club 43: 615. 1917. 



1889. 



Cespitose, the rootstocks thick, short, the culms 2.5-8 dm. 

 high, erect, stiff, smooth. Leaf-blades 2.5-4.5 mm. wide; head 

 1.5-2.5 cm. long, globose to oblong-ovoid, the spikes 10-20, 

 gynaecandrous. closely aggregated, ovoid, 6-10 mm. long, 4-6 

 mm. wide, the perigynia 10-30, appressed-ascending or in age 

 spreading ; lower one or more bracts conspicuous ; scales ovate, 

 acute or short cuspidate, reddish brown with sharply defined 

 lighter midvein and very narrow hyaline margins; perigynia 

 narrowly ovate, thick and strongly plano-convex at maturity, 

 3.5^.25 mm. long, 1.5 mm. wide, several nerved ventrally. strongly 

 finely nerved dorsally, round-tapering to a substipitate base, 

 narrowly margined (serrulate above) from base, tapering into a 

 slender beak one-fourth the length of the body, the beak chest- 

 nut-tinged, obliquely cut dorsally and hyaline at orifice ; achenes 

 lenticular, jointed with the slender style; stigmas 2. 



Coastal counties of California, Humid Transition Zone; Humboldt Bay 

 to San Francisco Bay. Type locality: California; locality not indicated. 



