22 THE GENUS CAREX IN CALIFORNIA 



3. C. nigricans C. A. Meyer. (Fig. 2.) Rootstocks stout, lignescent, creep- 

 ing, the culms 5-20 cm. high, stiff, firm, smooth, exceeding leaves, brownish tinged 

 at base; leaves 4-9 to a fertile culm, the blades 4-10 cm. long, 1.5-3 mm. wide, flat, 

 or channeled at base, attenuate at apex; spike 8-15 mm. long, 6-9 mm. wide, the 

 upper half staminate, the lower with 10-25 perigynia; scales ovate, obtuse to acutish, 

 dark-brown tinged with hyaline margins, 3^ to nearly as long as perigynia; perigy- 

 nia 4 mm. long, 1 mm. wide, compressed-orbicular in cross-section, brownish, nerve- 

 less, glabrous, rounded and strongly stipitate at base, at maturity deflexed, tapering 

 into a smooth beak with obliquely cut hyaline orifice. 



Type Locality: "Habitat in Unalaschka." 



Arctic alpine from Colorado and California northward to Alberta and Alaska. 

 In California it is confined to the Sierra Nevada, where it is known to extend from 

 Tulare Co. to Lake Tahoe. 



Locs.: Minarets, Congdon; Devil Basin, El Dorado Co., Brainerd; Lake Lucille, Hall & 

 Chandler 4664; Brewer 1379 (referred to C. pyrenaica Wahl. in Bot. Cal.); Tuolumne, Dudley; Marble 

 Canon, Tulare Co., Dudley 1281; Black Peak, Tulare Co., Dudley 2131, 2133; Mt. Silliman, Tulare 

 Co., Dudley 1503; Lake Tahoe, Abrams 4862; Vogelsang Pass, Jepson 3238. 



Ref.: Carex nigricans C. A. Mey. Mem. Acad. St. Petersb. 1: 211, pi. 7 (1831); Kiik. in 

 Engler, Pflzr. 420 : 106 (1909). "C. pyrenaica Wahl." W. Boott in Bot. Cal. 2: 228 (1880). 



In Bot. Cal., Brewer 1379 was erroneously referred to C. pyrenaica Wahl., a 

 species which may possibly yet be found in California. C. pyrenaica has densely 

 cespitose culms, each with but 2 or 3 leaves with involute blades 1 mm. wide or 

 less; the staminate flowers are few and the perigynia are erect until full maturity. 



III. Capitate Christ. Cespitose, the rootstocks somewhat elongate. Leaf-blades 

 filiform. Spike solitary, ovoid, androgynous, densely flowered, bractless. 

 Perigynia plano-convex, sharp edged, not inflated, essentially nerveless, sessile, 

 the walls thinnish, the smooth terete beak conspicuously hyaline-tipped, in age 

 bidentulate. Achenes lenticular, apiculate. Style straight, slender, jointed with 

 achene, at length deciduous. Stigmas 2. 



4. C. capitata L. (Fig. 3.) Rootstocks slightly elongate, the culms cespi- 

 tose, 1-3.5 dm. high, erect, roughish above, the basal sheaths purplish, sparingly 

 filamentose; leaf-blades about 0.5 mm. wide, rigid, stiff, shorter or longer than culm; 

 spike orbicular or oblong-orbicular, 4-8 (or 10) mm. long, 3-6 mm. wide, with 6-25 

 ascending perigynia below and a short but conspicuous cone of staminate flowers 

 above; scales ovate-orbicular, obtuse, shorter and narrower than perigynia, chestnut- 

 brown with broad hyaline margins; perigynia 2-2.5 mm. long and rather narrower, 

 ovoid, plano-convex, pale green, smooth, nerveless, rounded at base, abruptly 

 beaked, the beak smooth, slender, dark-colored, less than 1 mm. long, at length 

 bidentulate. 



Type Locality: Northern Europe (Fl. Dan. pi. 372). 



An arctic-alpine species found from Greenaland to Alaska and also occurring 

 very locally on mountain summits southward: New Hampshire, Alberta, Nevada, 

 California, Mexico. In California it is reported only from the Sierra Nevada at 

 altitudes of 6500 feet and more, in Tulare and Fresno counties. 



Locs.: Mt. Goddard, Hall c£ Chandler 673; Kaweah Meadow, Tulare Co., Dudley 2216; 

 Chagoopa Creek Meadow, Tulare Co., Dudley 2275. 



Refs. : Carex cai itata L. Syst. Nat. (ed. 10) 1261 (1759); Kiik. in Engler Pflzr. 420 : 70 (1909). 



