GENUS 18. 



SEDGE FAMILY. 



39 1 



92. Carex caryophyllea Latourrette. Vernal Sedge. Fig. 959. 



Carex praecox Jacq. Fl. Austr. 5: 23. pi. 446. 1778. Not 



Schreb. 1771. 



Carex caryophyllea Latourrette, Chlor. Lugdun, 27. 1785. 

 Carex verna Chaix, in Vill. Hist. PI. Dauph. 2: 204. 1787. 



Dark green, stoloniferous, culms phyllopodic, erect 

 or reclining, smooth, 3'-i2' long. Leaves \"-\V wide, 

 clustered near base and shorter than the culm ; lower 

 bract subulate, i'-i' long, very short sheathing; stami- 

 nate spike sessile or very short-stalked, usually large 

 and conspicuous; pistillate spikes 1-3, close^ together 

 or slightly separate, oblong, 5-2o-flowered, 3" -6" long, 

 2"-3" in diameter, sessile or the lower short-stalked ; 

 perigynia obovoid, sharply 3-angled, short-pubescent, 

 brown, about \\" long, abruptly acute, tapering at base; 

 scales ovate, brownish with a lighter center, cuspidate 

 or the lower rough-awned, about equalling the peri- 

 gynia. 



Maine to District of Columbia, locally naturalized from 

 Europe. Native also of Asia. Pink-grass, Iron-grass. May- 

 June. 



93. Carex communis Bailey. Fibrous-rooted Sedge. Fig. 960. 



C. varia var. pedicellata Dewey, Am. Journ. Sci. n : 163. 1826. 

 Carex communis Bailey, Mem. Torr. Club i : 41. 1889. 

 Carex communis var. Whecleri Bailey, Mem. Torr. Club i : 



41. 1889. 



Carex pedicellata Britton, Mem. Torr. Club 5: 87. 1894. 

 Carex pedicellata var. Wheeleri Britton, Mem. Torr. Club 5 : 



88. 1894. 



Light green, not stoloniferous, fibrous-rooted, culms 

 usually well-developed, slender, aphyllopodic, roughish 

 above, erect or reclining, 6'-2o' long. Leaves i"-2" wide, 

 shorter than the culms ; lower bract narrowly linear or 

 subulate, \'-2 long; staminate spike 2" -12" long, from 

 sessile to strongly peduncled ; pistillate spikes 2-4, short- 

 oblong, 3-io-flowered, sessile and usually separated, or the 

 lowest short-stalked ; perigynia obovoid, about i" long 

 and a little more than V in diameter, pale, short-pubescent, 

 slightly i-ribbed on each side, tipped with a subulate 

 2-toothed beak one-fourth the length of the body; scales 

 green, ovate or narrower, acuminate to obtuse, nearly 

 equalling the perigynia ; stigmas 3. 



In dry soil, Nova Scotia to British Columbia, south to 

 Georgia, Ohio and Nebraska. Ascends to 5700 ft. in Virginia. May-July. 



94. Carex pennsylvanica Lam. Pennsylvania Sedge. Fig. 961. 



Carex pennsylvanica Lam. Encycl. 3: 388. 1789. 



Strongly stoloniferous, culms slender but strict, erect, 

 smoothish to very rough, 3'-i5' tall. Leaves \"-\\" wide, 

 the basal shorter than or sometimes exceeding the culm, 

 the old sheaths persistent and fibrillose ; lower bract subulate 

 or scale-like, rarely over long; staminate spike sessile or 

 very short-stalked, i'-i' long; pistillate spikes 1-4, short- 

 oblong, 4-20-flowered, sessile, contiguous or the lower some- 

 what distant ; perigynia broadly obovoid, about i" long and 

 more than ' in diameter, short-pubescent, to nearly glab- 

 rous, i-rilibed on two sides, strongly narrowed at the base, 

 tipped with a more or less bidentate beak from one-fourth 

 the length of to as long as the body; scales ovate, purplish, 

 acute or cuspidate, equalling or a little longer than the peri- 

 gynia ; stigmas 3. 



In dry soil, New Brunswick to North Dakota, North Carolina 

 and Tennessee. Very variable. Ascends to 5000 ft. in North 

 Carolina. May-June. 



Carex heliophila Mackenzie, of prairies and plains from Illinois to Alberta and New Mexico, 

 differs by larger perigynia, i" wide, circular (not triangular) in cross-section. 



