402 



CYPERACEAE. 



VOL. I. 



125. Carex blanda Dewey. Woodland Sedge. 



Fig. 992. 



Carex blanda Dewey, Am. Journ. Sci. 10 : 45. 1826. 



C. laxiflora var. varians Bailey, Mem. Torr. Club i : 32. 1889. 



Glabrous, pale green, culms nearly smooth, flattened, 

 usually coarsely cellular, loosely erect, 6' -2 high. Lower 

 leaves usually shorter than culm, i'-f wide; the leaf- 

 like bracts and upper leaves with loose sheaths, their 

 margins much crisped; staminate spike usually short- 

 stalked or sessile, the scales rarely reddish-brown-tinged; 

 pistillate spikes 2-4, oblong or linear-oblong, 3"-i3" long, 

 rather closely 8-25-flowered, the upper two contiguous to 

 staminate spike and sessile or nearly so, the lower distant 

 and stalked; perigynia obovoid, ascending, ii"-ii" long, 

 more than \" thick, narrowed at base, strongly nerved, 

 contracted into a short stout outwardly bent entire beak; 

 scales ovate with broad white scarious margins usually 

 shorter than the perigynia, the lower strongly awned. 



Maine and Ontario to Virginia, Arkansas and Kansas. 

 Intergrades with the next. May-July. 



126. Carex laxiflora Lam. Loose-flowered Sedge. Fig. 993. 



Carex laxiflora Lam. Encycl. 3: 392. 1789. 



Carex laxiflora var. gracillima Boott, 111. Car. I : 37. 1858. 



Glabrous, rather pale green, culms erect or reclin- 

 ing, slender, roughish above, 6'-2 long, scarcely if at 

 all two-edged. Leaves ii" 3i" wide, soft, the lower 

 mostly shorter than the culm, the bracts similar to the 

 culm-leaves sometimes overtopping the spikes, their 

 sheaths tight, the margins little crinkled ; staminate spike 

 usually stalked, its scales rarely reddish-brown tinged; 

 pistillate spikes 2-4, distant, linear-cylindric, loosely 

 several-many-flowered, -iY long, i%"-2" thick, more 

 or less peduncled, spreading, or the upper erect ; peri- 

 gynia ascending, obovoid, more or less oblique, ii"-ii" 

 long, rather more than i" thick, narrowed at the base, 

 strongly many-nerved, contracted into a short stout out- 

 wardly bent entire beak; scales ovate with broad white 

 scarious margins, usually shorter than the perigynia, 

 at least the lower strongly awned ; stigmas 3. 



In meadows and thickets, eastern Quebec and Ontario to 

 Minnesota, south to Florida, Alabama and Texas. May-July. 



127. Carex anceps Muhl. Two-edged Sedge 



Fig. 994. 



C. anceps Muhl. ; Willd. Sp. PI. 4: 278. 1805. 



C. anceps var. patulifolia Dewey, Wood's Bot. 423. 1845. 



C. laxiflora var. patulifolia Carey, in A. Gray, Man. Ed. 2, 



524. 1856. 

 C. laxiflora var. leptonervia Fernald, Rhodora 8 : 184. 1906. 



Glabrous, deep green, culms nearly smooth, often 

 much flattened, looselv erect, 6'-2 high. Lower leaves 

 shorter than culm, 2*"-io" wide ; bracts similar to nar- 

 rower culm-leaves, the upper usually overtopping the 

 spikes ; staminate spike prominent, long- or short-stalked, 

 the scales rarely reddish-brown tinged; pistillate spikes 

 2-4, loosely and alternately 5-i5-flowered, distant and 

 slenderly stalked or the upper approximate and short- 

 stalked ; perigynia appressed-ascending, elliptic-obovoid, 

 obtusely 3-angled, strongly nerved or nearly nerveless, 

 1 5" long, " wide, tipped with a short straight or slightly 

 oblique beak ; scales ovate, scarious, the lower abruptly 

 short-awned ; stigmas 3. 



Woods, Newfoundland to Michigan, North Carolina and 

 Tennessee. May-July. 



