50 THE GENUS CAREX IN CALIFORNIA 



Locs.: Ebbetts Pass, Brewer 2063; Walker Lake, Mono Co., Congdon; Glen Alpine Spgs. • 

 El Dorado Co., L. M. Lathrop; Mineral King, Coville & Funston 1506; Squaw Valley, Placer Co., 

 L. S. Smith 558a, 560. 



Refs.: Cakex canescens L. Sp. PI. 2: 974 (1753); W. Boott in S. Wats. Bot. Cal. 2: 236 

 (1880); Kiik. in Engler, Pflzr. 420 : 216 (1909). C. curta Good. Trans. Linn. Soc. 2: 145 (1794), type 

 from Prussia. C. canescens L. var. robustior Blytt ex Anderss. Cyp. Scand. 57 (1849), type from 

 Scandinavia. "C. lagopina Wahl." W. Boott in S. Wats. Bot. Cal. 2: 233 (1880). C. canescens L. 

 var. dubia Bailey, Bot. Gaz. 9: 119 (1884), type from Bear River Canon, Utah. 



58. C. arcta Boott. Cespitose, the culms slender, erect, 1.5-8 dm. high, very 

 rough above, usually strongly exceeded by the leaves; leaf -blades 2-4 mm. wide, 

 flat, glaucous or light green; spike's 5-15, 5-10 mm. long, 4-6 mm. wide, many-flowered, 

 aggregated into a head 1.5-3 cm. long, 7-12 mm. wide; lower one or two bracts 

 developed; scales shorter than perigynia, ovate, obtusish to short-cuspidate, hya- 

 line with green midvein, more or less brownish tinged ; perigynia ascending or some- 

 what spreading, ovate, 2-3 mm. long, nearly 1.25 mm. wide, sharp edged but not 

 winged, many-nerved dorsally, lightly nerved at base ventrally, white puncticulate, 

 rounded and short-stipitate at base, tapering into the strongly serrulate, shallowly 

 bidentate beak, obliquely cut and fissured on the dorsal side. 



Type Locality: "In America boreali, Canada, Lake Superior, Rainy Lake, 

 Lake of the Woods." 



Swamps and wet woods, New Brunswick to British Columbia, south to New 

 York, Montana and California, where it is known only from the northwestern 

 portion near the coast. 



Loc: Eureka, Humboldt Co., Tracy 1195, 3806. 



Refs.: Carex arcta Boott, 111. Car. 4: 155, pi. 497 (1867); Kuk. in Engler, Pflzr. 420 : 228 

 (1909). C. canescens L. var. polystachya Boott in Richards, Arct. Exped. 2: 344 (1852), same type. 

 C. Kunzei Olney, Proc. Am. Acad. 8: 406 (1872), name only, type from Oregon, Hall 574; excluding 

 reference to Kunze's plate. C. canescens L. var. oregana Bailey, Mem. Torr. Club 1: 75 (1889), type 

 from Portland, Oregon, Henderson. 



XIV. PoLYTRiCHOiDEiE Tuckerm. Densely tufted. Culms slender. Leaf-blades 

 narrow. Spike solitary, linear, androgynous, bractless. Rachis straight, not 

 dilated. Perigynia appressed, membranaceous, the upper part empty, oblong- 

 elliptic, many-nerved, not 2-ribbed, compressed-triangular, beakless. Achenes 

 triangular, the sides concave. Style slender, flexuous, its base not enlarged, 

 jointed with achene, deciduous. Stigmas 3, short. 



59. C. leptalea Wahl. Cespitose with slender rootstocks; culms very slender, 

 2-6 dm. high, obscurely triangular, smooth or slightly roughened, mostly exceeding 

 leaves; leaf -blades 0.5-1.25 mm. wide, flat or channeled; spike 4-15 mm. long, 2-3 

 mm. wide, the staminate part varying from inconspicuous to occupying nearly 

 whole spike; pistillate scales except lowest ovate, very obtuse to short pointed, J^ 

 length of perigynia, reddish-brown tinged with hyaline margins and green center; 

 perigynia 1-10, 2.5-4.25 mm. long, 1-1.5 mm. wide, oval-elliptic, more or less strongly 

 overlapping, round or somewhat flattened in cross-section, not concealed by the 

 scales, finely many-striate, substipitate at base and rounded at apex. 



Type Locality: "Habitat in Pennsylvania." 



Bogs and wet meadows, very widely distributed from Labrador to Alaska, 

 south to Florida, Texas, Colorado and northern California, where known only from 

 the northwestern part near the coast. 



Loc: Patricks Point, Humboldt Co., Tracy 4365. 



Refs.: Carex leptalea Wahl. Vet. Acad. Handl. Stockholm 139 (1803); Kuk. in Engler, 

 Pflzr. 420 : 89 (1909). C. microstachya Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 2: 169 (1803) [not Ehrh. 1788], type not 

 given, presumably from eastern North America. C. polytrichoides Muhl. in Willd. Sp. PI. 4: 213 

 (1805), type from Pennsylvania; W. Boott in S. Wats. Bot. Cal. 2: 229 (1880), (note). 



