22 Holm, The genus Carex in North -West America. 



Northern hemisphere, thoiigh so very seldom accompanied by 

 C. stygia. 



Types of this grex peculiar to our region are, thits, C. crjuito- 

 chlaena; macrochaeta, riesophUa, aperta and partly also stygia and 

 cryptocmya ; characteristic of these are the very dark-colored spikes, 

 a featiire common to boreal species. 



Ca r i ces cenchro c a rp a e. 



None of the members of this grex can be looked lipon as 

 types of our region. It is, however interesting to notice the occur- 

 rence of the two ,.formae hehetatae" C. hicolor and aurea, besides 

 the representatives of the various groups inckiding C. livida, Crawei 

 and ijolymorpha. Totally absent is, however, the f efrmim - group 

 and the „formae desciscentes" . 



Carices lejochlaenae. 



Three ..formae hehetatae" and only one „forma centralis'^ 

 represent the grex in this region. Of these C. Hendersonü is the 

 only northwestern type, and it is closely related to C. laxiflora, 

 especially to the var. patulifolia, but distinct from this by its 

 larger perigynium, which is more prominently nerved and more 

 gradually contracted at both ends; the spikes are more densely 

 flowered and borne on shorter peduncles. 



Cari ces da c tylosta c h y ae. 



The grex is but poorly represented within our region, and 

 although the species belong to the western Flora, none of these 

 are characteristic of the region, at least not in the stricter sense 

 of the Word. 



Carices microcarpae. 



C. cinnamomea is the only species of the grex, that has been 

 found in the region; the cinnamon-colored spikes make it readily 

 distinguished from the light green C. strigosa and gracUlima. 



Cari c es a throchlaenae. 



Although the geographical center of C. nigricans may be looked 

 for in this region, its present wide distribution in the east and 

 south prevents us from considering it as a northwestern type. As 

 described by C. A. Meyer the species has an androgynous spike, 

 in which the pistillate flowers are very numerous and conspicuous, 

 often more so than the staminate. Nevertheless purely pistillate 

 Spikes do occur, and such specimens were collected in the Chilli- 

 wack Valley and in the Selkirk Mountains (British Columbia). In 

 other specimens from the Kootanie Pass in the Rocky Mountains 

 (B. C.) the majority of the flowers were staminate, and the pistillate 

 very few in number. The plant thus varies from monoecious to 

 dioecious, of which, however, the former is the most frequent and 

 represents, no doubt, the typical stage of the species. 



Carices stenocarpae. 



Two of the formae hehetatae C. lejocarpa and circinata are 

 types of this region, accompanied by C. misandra, while C. luzu- 

 laefolia and ahlata occur in some of the other western States. It 



