CYPERACEA. (SEDGE FAMILY.) ' 541 
lina. — Culms filiform, 19 - 13? high, and, like the sheaths of the linear leaves, 
roughened downward. 
48. C. digitalis, Willd. Sterile spike small, sessile, or nearly so; fertile 
spikes commonly 3, remote, very slender, loosely 5 —8-flowered, all on long 
bristle-like peduncles, the lowest near the base of the culm and generally re- 
clining ; perigynia alternate, ovoid, with a short and spreading entire point, 
twice the length of the ovate acute green-keeled scale; leaves linear, green; 
culms 6/-12! high. — Var. GLAUCA. Leaves and bracts wider (4" — 6"), glau- 
cous, 3-nerved ; fertile spikes thicker, the two upper ones approximate and short- 
peduncled; perigynia larger, thrice the length of the barely-pointed scale.— 
Low grounds, Florida, and northward. 
Bracts sheathing, leafless or nearly so: scales brown or black. 
49. C. plantaginea, Lam. Fertile spikes 3 — 4, remote, the lowest at the 
base of the culm, linear, erect, loosely few-flowered, the peduncles mostly in- 
cluded in the brown leafless sheaths; perigynia oblong-obovate, short-pointed, 
longer than the ovate acute black scale. — Mountains of North Carolina, and 
northward. — Leaves all radical, 1’ or more wide, about as long as the slender 
culm, 
50. C. Caroliniana, Buckley. Fertile spikes 3, loosely 3- 6-flowered, 
remote, all om long bristle-like drooping peduncles, which are partly included 
in the sheaths of the short bracts; the lowest near the base of the culm ; peri- 
gynia ovoid, short-pointed, rather longer than the oblong mucronate dark-brown 
scale. — Table Mountain, South Carolina, Buckley. — Radical leaves 4" —6” 
wide, 3-nerved, exceeding the tufted culms. : 
51. C. Baltzellii, Chapm. Sterile spike rigid, often with a few fertile 
flowers at the base; fertile spikes 3-6, linear-cylindrical, closely many-flowered, 
one (rarely two) on an erect peduncle which is included in a leafless sheath at 
the base of the sterile spike, the others on long recurved or spreading radical 
peduncles, commonly sterile at the summit ; perigynia obovate-oblong, pubescent, 
abruptly short-pointed, as long as the obovate obtuse mucronate reddish-brown 
scale. — Dry sandy soil, Middle Florida. — Leaves all radical, 2"— 4” wide, 
glaucous, very rough above, longer than the culm. | 
= = Perigynia with Jew and scattered nerves, commonly a little inflated, straight- 
beaked or pointed : spikes all, or the lowest, on long and mostly nodding peduncles : 
bracts leafy. Jub da fi 
t Spikes linear or filiform, loosely flowered : perigynia lanceolate or oblong. 
52. C. venusta, Dew. Fertile spikes 3-5, linear (1' - 13' long), remote, 
or the two upper ones approximate and erect; perigynia oblong, acute at each 
end, rough-hairy, notched at the orifice, twice as long as the oblong obtuse 
scale. — Low banks of streams, Florida to North Carolina.— Culms 20-30 
high. Sheaths of the linear leaves very rough. E 
53. C. debilis, Michx. Fertile spikes 3-5, remote, filiform, drooping ; 
Perigynia alternate, lanceolate, smooth, acute at the base, tapering into a 2-cleft 
beak, twice as long as the oblong obtuse one-nerved scale; sheaths smooth. — 
