CYPERACE^. (sedge FAMILY.) 541 



Una. — Culms filiform, 1° - 1|° high, and, like the shcatlis 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. — Van glauca. Leaves and bracts wider (4" -6"), glau- 

 cous, 3-nervcd ; fertile spikes thicker, the two upper ones appro.ximate and short- 

 peduncled; perigynia larger, thrice the length of the barely-pointed scale. — 

 Low grounds, Florida, and northward. 



Bracts shealhinrj, leaflesn 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 on long bristle-like drooping peduncles, which are partly included 

 in the slieaths 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 Mcfuntain, South Carolina, Bucldej. — 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 wliich is included in a leafless sheath at 

 the base of tiie 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 Floiida. — Leaves all radical, 2" -4" wide, 

 glaucous, very rough above, longer than the culm. 



= = Perigipiia with feiv and scattered nei-ves, coinmonli/ a little inflated, straight- 

 beaked or pointed : spikes all, or the lowest, on long and mostly nodding peduncles : 

 brads leafy. 

 t Spikes linear or filiform, loosely flowered : perigynia lanceolate or ohlong. 



52. C. venusta, Dew. Fertile spikes 3-5, linear (I'-U' 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 2° -3° 

 high. Sheaths of the linear leaves very rough. 



53. C. debilis, Michx. Fertile spikes 3-5, remote, filiform, drooping; 

 perigynia alternate, lanceolate, smooth, acute at the base, tapering into a 2cleft 

 beak, twice as long as the oblong obtuse one-nerved scale ; sheaths smooth. — 



46 



