SEDGE FAMILY 



323 



104. Carex californica Bailey 



780.' 



California Sedge 



Fig. 



Carex polvmortha W. Boott in S. Wats. Bot. Calif. 2: 247. 1880; not Muhl. 

 Carex californica Bailey, Mem. Torrey Club 1 : 9. 1889. . , .„„ .,, ,q„„ 



Carex polymorpha californica Kiikenth. in hngler Pflanzenreich 4- : ol3. lyuy. 



Rootstocks Stout, elongated, the culms 2-4.5 dm. high, sharply 

 triangular, smooth, reddish-purple at base, strongl.v aphyllopodic. 

 Culm-leaves 2-4, the blades 1.5-5 mm. wide, flat with revolute 

 margins; staminate spike 1.5-3.5 cm. long, strongly peduncled ; 

 pistillate spikes 2-4, erect, strongly separate, the upper short exsert- 

 peduncled, the lower often nearly basal and long exsert-peduncled, 

 linear-oblong, 1-3 cm. long, 3-5 mm. wide, with 7-20 appressed 

 perigynia : bracts leaf-like, strongly exceeding spikes ; scales ovate, 

 obtusish, shorter than perigynia. purplish brown with lighter mid- 

 vein ; perigynia 3.5-4 mm. long. 2 mm. wide, membranaceous, yel- 

 lowish green, the body ovoid, suborbicular in cross-section, some- 

 what inflated, several nerved, rounded at base, abruptly beaked, the 

 beak 0.75 mm. long with oblique orifice ; achenes triangular ; style 

 slender; stigmas 3. 



Meadows and prairies. Transition Zone; northwestern California through 

 western Oregon to southwestern Washington. Apjjarently rare and local. Type 

 locality: ^lendocino City, California. 



105. Carex hendersonii Bailey. 

 Henderson's Sedge. Fig. 781. 



Carex laxifiora plantaginea Boott; Olney Proc. Am. Acad. 8: 407. 187i. 

 Carex hendersonii Bailey, Proc. Am. Acad. 22: 115. 1886. 



Rather loosely cespitose, the culms 4-8 dm. high, slender, 

 sharply triangular, rough above. Sterile shooj;s jdeveloping 

 conspicuous culms : culm blades 3-8 mm. wide. 5-25 cm. long, 

 those of the sterile shoots 4-10 mm. wide. 2-5 dm. long; 

 terminal spike staminate, more or less peduncled, 2-3 cm. 

 long: pistillate spikes 2-4, erect, linear, 12-25 mm. long, 4-6 

 mm. wide, with 5-12 alternate ascending perigynia. the upper 

 spikes approximate and little if at all exsert-peduncled, the 

 lower widely separate and often long exsert-peduncled; 

 bracts leaf-like, long sheathing; scales broadly obovate, mu- 

 cronate, exceeded by perigynia, 3-nerved, green with hyaline 

 margins, often reddish brown tinged; perigynia narrowly 

 ovoid, 5-6 miTi. long, 2 mm. wide, obtusely triangular, many- 

 nerved, long-tapering and substipitate at base, tapering into 

 a long straight, scarcely differentiated beak, obliquely cut at 

 orifice; achenes triangular; style slender; stigmas 3. 



Damp woods. Humid Transition and Canadian Zones; Coast Ranges 

 from southwestern British Columbia to Sonoma County, California. 

 Type locality: bogs at Portland, Oregon. 



106. Carex flaccifolia :\Iackenzie. 

 Flaccid-leaved Sedge. Fig. 782. 



Carex flaccifolia Mackenzie, Erythea 8: 92. 1922. 



Rootstocks not seen, the culms 6-9 dm. high, sharply tri- 

 angular, slender, weak, not roughened on the angles, eaty 

 on the lower fifth, light browmish at base. Leat-blades 

 flaccid, light green, about 3 mm. wide, flat, pubescent, the 

 sheaths stronglv pubescent, white hyalme ventrally ; stami- 

 nate spike solitarv, 1-2.5 cm. long, short-peduncled ; lateral 

 spikes mostlv three, pistillate, erect, approxmiate or some- 

 w^hat separate, the upper sessile, the lower short-peduncled. 

 1-2.5 cm. long, 5-7 mm. wide, the 8-25 peng>nia ascendmg, 

 looselv arranged in few rows; lowest bract leaflet-like, very 

 short-'sheathing ; scales shorter than perigynia, ovate, cuspi- 

 date, hvaline with 3-nerved green center; perig>-nia broadly 

 ovoid. 3.5^.25 mm. long, 2.25 mm. wide, glabrous, light green, 

 membranaceous, sharply triangular, several nerved on each 

 side, short tapering at base, abruptly beaked, the beak 0.5 mm. 

 long, bidentulate; achenes triangular; 'Style jointed with 

 achene ; stigmas 3. 



Southwestern California. Tvpe collected by George B. Grant. May 

 1-2, 1902, in dry sunny plains,' sheet 468192 in United States National 

 Herbarium, without definite locality label. 



