PERNALD. VARIATIONS OP BOREAL CARICES. 497 



Var. virescens, Anders. Cyp. Scand. 46; Bennett, 1. c. — Scales 

 pale and short, mostly hidden by the closely imbricated perigynia, thus 

 giving the spikelets a pale green color. — Northern Europe. The 

 only American specimens seen are from Michigan, without locality 

 {Michigan State Collection in herb. Gray); near Alma (C. A. Ban's). 

 Material from Pownal, Vermont, closely approaches this variety, but 

 has longer darker scales. 



Var. cuspidata, Laest. ex Fries, Bot. Not. (1843) 104; Bennett, 

 1. c. — Spikelets slender. 3 or 4 mm. thick : scales cuspidate, distinctly 

 exceeding the perigynia. — Northern Europe. Quebec, Grand Etang, 

 Gaspe (J. Macoun): New Jersey, Camden (C. F. Parker). The 

 Gaspe plant is a perfect match for Lapland material from Nylander, 

 but the New Jersey specimen shows a nearer approach to typical C. 

 aqnatilis. 



Var. epigejos, Laest. Kongl. Vet. Akad. Handl. (1822) 339; Bennett, 

 1. c. — Very slender : the leaves 2 to 3.5 mm. broad : spikelets at most 

 5 cm. long, 2 to 4.5 mm. thick; scales dark and bluut. — Northern 

 Europe, Greenland. Newfoundland {La Pylaie) ; Packs Harbor 

 {A. C. Wag/tome, no. 35): Labrador, L'Anse au Loup (J. A. Allen): 

 Quebec, Mont Louis, Cape Rosier, and Madaline River, Gaspe {J. 

 Macoun, nos. 23, 27, 31). The material examined matches well Scan- 

 dinavian material from Ahlberg. It is also identical with plants from 

 Lapiand distributed by Andersson as var. sphagnophila. The latter 

 variety, however, is said by Andersson to differ from var. epigejos in 

 its pale not dark scales. 



Carex pilulifera and C. communis. 



Carex pilulifera, L., a common species of Europe, presents three rather 

 marked tendencies. The original plant of Linnaeus was apparently the 

 common form with the pistillate spikelets subapproximate or slightly 

 remote at the tip of the somewhat curved culm. This form with the 

 lower spikelets sometimes 1 cm. apart, is represented in the Gray 

 Herbarium by specimens from many parts of northern and central 

 Europe. In this plant the perigynium is 2.5 to 3.5 mm. long, tipped by 

 a short bidentate beak less than 1 mm. in length. Another phase of 

 the plant, evidently rare in Europe, has larger more scattered spikelets, 

 the lower often subtended by a conspicuous leafy bract; and the larger 

 perigynia more ellipsoid or with the longer beak equalling the stipitate 

 spongy basal portion and thus giving the perigynia a symmetrical spiudle- 

 vol. xxxvi. — 32 



