THE GENUS CAREX IN CALIFORNIA 91 



XXXIV. Pseudo-Cypere.e Tuckerm. Culms tall, generally stout, acutely angled, 

 leafy below. Leaf-blades flat, septate-nodulose. Spikes 3-9, the upper 1-3 

 slender, staminate, ^he others normally pistillate, densely flowered, the upper 

 approximate, the lower remote and strongly peduncled, often nodding. 

 Bracts leaflike, much exceeding the culms, mostly not sheathing. Pistillate scales 

 aristate. Perigynia spreading or reflexed, membranaceous or stiff, triangular 

 or circular in cross-section, 3-8 mm. long, closely many-ribbed, greenish straw- 

 color, smooth, stipitate, contracted into a rigid beak, the teeth slender. 

 Achenes triangular, continuous with th? slender often flexuous style. Stigmas 

 3, short. 



122. C. hystricina Muhl. Cespitose and stoloniferous, the culms 3-9 dm. high, 

 reddish-purple at the base, rough above; leaf-blades 3-8 mm. wide, the basal sheaths 

 often breaking and filamentose; staminate spike 1-5 cm. long, 2.5-4 mm. wide, 

 slender stalked, the scales rough-awned; pistillate spikes 1-4, approximate or strongly 

 separate, densely many-flowered, oblong or oblong-cylindric, 1-6 cm. long, 10-14 

 mm. wide, the lower slender stalked; lower bract exceeding culm; scales green, 3- 

 nerved, rough-awned, narrower and mostly shorter than perigynia; perigynia 5-6 

 mm. long, 1.5-2 mm. wide, finely 15-20 nerved, narrowly ovoid, ascending or at 

 length spreading, greenish straw-color, rounded and short stipitate at base, tapering 

 into a smooth bidentate beak 2 mm. long, the slender teeth erect. 



Type Locality: "Habitat in humidis Pennsylvania?." 



Swampy soil, New Brunswick to Alberta, south to Georgia, Texas, Arizona 

 and northern California, where but recently collected in Trinity Co. 



Loc: Rush Creek, Trinity Co., Yates 423. 



Refs.: Carex hystricina Muhl. in Willd. Sp. PI. 4: 282 (1805); Kiik. in Engler, Pflzr. 

 420; 699 (1909). 



123. C. comosa Boott. (Fig. 51). Cespitose and not stoloniferous, the culms 

 stout, 5-15 dm. high, very sharply angled, strongly roughened to smooth; leaves very 

 nodulose, the blades 6-14 mm. wide, flat with revolute margins, the basal sheaths 

 not breaking and filamentose; staminate spike 3-7 cm. long, 4-7 mm. wide, 

 slender-stalked, the scales rough-awned; pistillate spikes 1-4, densely many-flowered, 

 oblong-cylindric, 1-6 cm. long, 12-14 mm. wide, the upper erect and short-peduncled, 

 the lower slender-stalked and at length nodding; lowest bract exceeding culm; scales 

 narrow, mostly shorter than perigynia, very rough-awned, greenish or brownish 

 tinged; perigynia lanceolate, rigid, 5-7 mm. long, 1.5 mm. wide, greenish or brownish 

 tinged, round-tapering and stipitate at base, closely many-ribbed, reflexed when 

 mature, tapering into a smooth, very deeply bidentate beak with recurved spread- 

 ing awns 1.5-2 mm. long. 



Type Locality: "In Georgia et Carolina, (Elliott); Ohio, (Sullivant); 

 Philadelphia et Utica, (Torrey); Boston, (Boott)." 



Swamps, Nova Scotia to Minnesota, south to Florida and Louisiana and 

 locally from Washington to California east to Idaho. In California it is known only 

 near the coast from San Francisco northward, except for a stray plant collected in 

 the San Bernardino valley. 



Locs.: San Francisco, Bolander 2301 (in part); Blue Lakes, Jepson 26a, 266; Guerneville, 

 Davy; San Bernardino Valley, Parish (one plant only) ; Santa Cruz Mts., Bolander 69. 



Refs.: Carex comosa Boott, Trans. Linn. Soc. 20: 117 (1846) Parish, Bull. S. Cal. Acad. 4: 

 67 (1905). C. furcata Ell. Sketch Bot. 2: 552 (1824), not Lapeyr. 1813, type from South Carolina. 

 C. pseudo-cyperus L. var. comosa Boott, 111. Car. 4: 141 (1867); W. Boott in S. Wats. Bot. Cal. 2: 

 252 (1880); Kuk. in Engler, Pflzr. 420 : 696 (1909). C. pseudo-cyperus L. var. americana Hochst. ex 

 Bailey, Mem. Torr. Club 1: 54 (1889), type from eastern North America. C. pseudo-cyperus L. var. 

 furcata Kuk., Allg. Bot. Zeitschr. 7: 195 (1901). 



