64 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Feb. 



tibus vel rectangule separatis, squamam ovato-lanceolatam ad basin 

 aequantibus vel supra superantibus ; bracteis foliisque margine 

 vix scabris et culmo lsevi longioribus ; culmo foliis basin breviore. 



Culm one to two feet high, erect, smooth ; bracts and leaves 

 long, narrow, linear-lanceolate, the lower much surpassing the 

 culm, smooth but slightly scabrous on the edges, nodose ; spikes 

 six, cylindric, pedunculate ; the pistillate 1-2 J inches long, sessile 

 above and sheathed exsert-pedunculate below, very variable ; as 

 (1.) regular, staminate spikes 2, terminal, cylindric, long, the 

 lower short with a long slender bract, both bearing long lanceolate 

 scales very lax below, and the pistillate 4, uppermost subsessile 

 and the others remote, long pedunculate, erect ; (2.) irregular, 

 staminate spike terminal long, with a few scattered fruit at the 

 vertex or in the middle or below, and pistillate 5, with some 

 stamens at the vertex of the upper, sometimes the terminal 2-3 

 inches long and upper half pistillate with the lower half staminate, 

 sometimes the terminal pistilliferous long with few stamens in the 

 middle or at the base, sometimes the lowest pistillate with some 

 stamens at its apex and in the middle ; all the pistillate loose- 

 flowered, especially below ; stigmas 3 ; fruit ovate long-conic, 

 inflated at base, rostrate with beak slender and bidentate, diverging 

 or nearly rectangular below, smooth, nerved, generally longer than 

 the narrow oblong acute and awned or ovate-lanceolate scale, or at 

 the base of the lower spikes the fruit is sometimes scarcely longer 

 than the scale ; plant straw-yellow. 



At streams in Seymour, Northumberland Co., Canada West, J. 

 Macoun, whose name the discovery honors. Though related to 

 C. folUculata L., it seems quite different, and the achenia wholly 

 unlike ; future forms may show more clearly its relations. 



C. Canadensis, Dewey : Spicis distinctis ; staminifera unica 

 perlongo-cylindracea erecta remota et bractea foliata e basi distante, 

 squamas tongas latas lanceolatas ferente : spicis pistilliferis 1-3, 

 vulgo 2, saepe 1, per-raro 3, oblongis cylindraceis erectis subensi- 

 floris, inferiore interdum brevi-ovata et saepe per-longo-pedunculata; 

 fructibus tristigmaticis ovato-conicis inflatis conico-rostratis bifur- 

 catis subtriquetris nervosis glabris, squama ovata brevi-acuta vel 

 aristata plus duplo longioribus ; bracteis foliisque margine supra 

 scabris culinum lsevem superantibus. 



Culm 15-24 inches high, erect, rather slender, very smooth, 

 leafy towards the base;. leaves and bracts surpass the culm; spikes 

 distinct ; terminal staminate long-cylindric, remote from its bract 



