18 Holm, The genus Caiex in North -West America. 



C a r i ces micro r h y n c hae. 



The grex is well represented and consists of several peculiar 

 and apparently distinct species, some of which are near allies of 

 C. vulgaris, others of G. aquatiUs or of C. acutina. Of these 

 C. ])rionoph!illa is peculiar to Idaho, where it occurs on thc banks 

 of Yankee Fork, above Custer, at an elevation of 2,000 m., and in 

 the region of Coeur d'Alene Mountains, near mountain streams 

 (c. 1,500 m.). The culms are aphyllopodic thus resembling those 

 of G. strieta, angusfata and caespitosa, but the very short spikes, 

 the acuminate, sharply pointcd scales, the purplish spotted peri- 

 gynia and very scabrous scale-like leaves at the base of the culms 

 make the species distinct from these. In C. liigens from Alaska 

 and Yukon we meet with a species which in regard to the spikes 

 reminds of G. caesjntosa. but thc culms are phyllopodic. Typical 

 C. vulgaris has been collected in a few places in Alaska (Dali 

 River trail, Wrangell and Unalaska), but the variety lipocarpa is 

 exceedingly common, especially in Washington ; it has, furthermore 

 been recorded from some few stations in Montana, Wyoming and 

 Colorado, but seems to be most widely distributed in our region. 

 The two other varieties : lhnnop)hila and hydropjhila are known from 

 Alaska and Yukon. 



As indicated by the name ,Mpocarpa" the perigynia are early 

 deciduous; they are prominently stipitate, elliptical, many-nerved 

 and extended into a relatively long beak. This variety was for- 

 merly considered identical with the South-American (J. clecidua. 

 The variety limnopliila is a plant of low stature with the terminal 

 spikc mostly gynaecandrous, and with the perigynium nerved, 

 denticulate near the beak and purplish spotted; it bears a strong 

 resemblance to Drejer's C. rufiyia, which some Scandinavian 

 authors are inclined to refer to C. vulgaris as a reduced form. 

 While habitally distinct from these American varieties of G. vul- 

 garis the European exhibit the same structure of the perigynium 

 in regard to the presence or absence of nerves, but the beak and 

 the stipe are usually much shorter in these, and the body of the 

 perigynium much broader. 



As near allies of G. vulgaris may be enumerated G. limnaea, 

 gymnoclada and hrachypoda. The first of these is a slender, very 

 graceful species and much more so than any specimen of vulgaris 

 examined; the perigynia are slightly spreading, stipitate, promi- 

 nently many-nerved, and the scales are black with hyaline apex. 

 The species is known from the mountains of Oregon. G. gymno- 

 clada is, also, a somewhat slender plant with a long, naked culm, 

 and with the perigynia rhombic-oval, obscurely two-nerved and 

 denticulate near the beak; the species has been collected in the 

 mountains of Oregon and Washington, in bogs, meadows and 

 along streams in the subalpine regions. The third species, G. 

 hrachypoda, is only known from Oregon, and differs from G. gym- 

 noclada by the habit and by the structure of the perigynium, 

 being almost orbicular, sessile and nerveless. When compared 

 with the other Microrhyncliae of our region, these three species 

 naturally stand between G. vulgaris and rigida, while their old- 



