CYPERACEH. (SEDGE FAMILY.) 537 
the spike, often leafy ; otherwise like the last. — Shady woods, North Carolina, 
and northward. — Plant deep green. i 
B. Spikes two or more. (In No. 25 oftener solitary.) 
* Terminal spike sterile below (often wholly so in Nos. 26 and 35), fertile above, the 
others chiefly fertile. 
+ Perigynia inflated, contracted into a long and slender beak. 
25. C. squarrosa, L. Spikes 1-4, oval, thick (4/—- 3’), erect, peduncled ; 
perigynia horizontal, obovate, smooth, 3-nerved, abruptly contracted into a long 
subulate smooth 2-cleft beak, longer than the lanceolate acute scale. — Swamps 
and meadows, near the mountains, Georgia, and northward.— Culms 8/- 16! high, 
shorter than the linear leaves and bracts. 
26. C. stenolepis, Torr. Spikes 4-7, the terminal one small, often 
wholly sterile or fertile, the others cylindrical, erect, dense-flowered, the upper 
ones approximate and nearly sessile, the lower scattered, on exserted peduncles ; 
perigynia horizontal, contracted into a long and slender 2-cleft beak, shorter than 
the awn-like scales. Swamps and meadows, upper districts of Georgia to Missis- 
sippi, and northward.— Culms 1°-14° high, flexuous above, shorter than the 
broad leaves and bracts. 
+ + Perigynia beakless. 
++ Spikes approximate, ovoid or cylindrical, dense-flowered, sessile, or on short and 
erect peduncles : bracts short. 
27. C. Buxbaumii, Wahl. Spikes 3-4, oblong, the upper one sp i 
cled, the others sessile or nearly so ; perigynia whitish, smooth, elliptical, com- 
pressed-3-angled, obtuse and emarginate at the apex, commonly shorter than the 
ovate acute or awn-pointed blackish scale. — Mountains of Georgia, and north- 
ward. — Culms 1°-1}° high, rough above, longer than the narrow glaucous 
leaves. 
28. C. hirsuta, Willd. Spikes 2-4 (mostly 3), sessile or nearly so, ovoid 
or oblong, many-flowered ; perigynia pubescent or at length smoothish, ovate, 
compressed-3-angled, strongly nerved, obtuse and emarginate at the apex, about 
as long as the oblong mucronate white scale. — Damp soil, Florida to Missis- 
sippi, and northward. — Culms erect, 19 - 13? high, rough-angled, -— like the 
narrow leaves and sheaths, more or less pubescent. 
29. C. triceps, Michx.? Spikes 3-4, ovoid or oblong, sessile i fiw Bow. 
cred; perigynia smooth, round-pear-shaped, obscurely angled, faintly nerved, 
contracted into a short and entire point, as long as the oblong obtuse or barely 
pointed white scale. — North Carolina (Curtis), Tennessee, and northward.— 
Culms 1? high, very slender. Leaves and sheaths smooth. 
30. C. virescens, Muhl. Spikes 2-3, cylindrical, short-peduncled, dense- 
ly many-flowered ; perigynia small, pubescent, ovoid, strongly nerved, 3-angled, 
acute and entire at the apex, as long as the ovate mucronate white scale. — Low 
grassy meadows, North — and sav ced = Culms r-o 
peiin ime — m» 
