SEDGE FAMILY 211 



Sect. 2. Athrochlaenae Holm. Cespitose or witli creeping rootstoeks. Leaf-blades narrow. 

 Spike solitary, androgynous, bractless, narrow, densely many-flowered. Pistillate scales 

 soon falling. Perigynia slenderly strongly stipitate, widely spreading or the lower reflexed, 

 obscurely triangular, nerveless, membranaceous, long-beaked, the lieak obliquely cut, becom- 

 ing bidcntulate. Achenes usually triangular, slightly apieulate. Stigmas 3 or occasionally 2. 



3. C. nigricans C. A. Mey. Culms 5 to 30 cm. high, stiff, firm, smooth; 

 leave.s 4 to 9 to a fertile culm, the blades 1.5 to 3 mm. wide, flat, or channeled at 

 base; spike 8 to 15 mm. long, 6 to 9 mm. wide, the upper half stamiuate, the 

 lower witli 10 to 25 perigynia; scales ovate, obtuse to acutish, dark-brown tinged 

 with hyaline margins, shorter than perigynia; perigynia 4 mm. long, brownish, 

 tapering into a smooth beak. 



Arctic alpine in the Sierra Nevada, from Tulare Co. to Eldorado Co. North 

 to Alaska, east to Colorado. 



Loes. — Mt. Silliman, Dudley 1.503; Minarets, Congdon; Vogelsang Pass, Jepson 3230; Lake 

 Lucille, Bretver 1379. 



Refs. — Carex nigricans C. A. Mev. Mem. Acad. St. Potersb. 1:211, pi. 7 (1831), type from 

 Unalaschka: Mackenzie, Ervthea 8:22, fig. 2 (1922). C. pyrcnawa W. Boott in Bot. C'al. 2:228 

 (1880), not Wahl. 



Sect. 3. Capitatae Christ. Cespitose. Leaf-blades filiform. Spike solitary, ovoid, an- 

 drogynous, densely flowered, bractless. Perigynia plano-convex, sharp-edged, not inflated, 

 essentially nerveless, sessile, the walls thinuish, the smooth terete beak conspicuously 

 liyaline-tipped, in age bidentulate. Achenes lenticular, apieulate. Stigmas 2. 



4. C. capitata L. (Fig. 29a-e.) Culms 1 to 3.5 dm. high, roughish above, 

 the basal sheatlis purplish ; spike 4 to 10 mm. long; scales ovate-orbieular, obtuse, 

 shorter and narrower than perigynia, chestnut-brown with broad hyaline mar- 

 gins; perigj-nia 2 to 3 mm. long, pale green, smooth, rounded at base, the abrupt 

 beak slender, dark-colored, less than 1 mm. long. 



Sierra Nevada in Fresno and Tulare cos., 6500 to 8000 ft. North to Alaska, 

 east to New Hampshire, south to Mexico. 



Locs.— Mt. Goddard, Hall # Chavdier 673; Kaweah Mdw.. Tulare Co., Dudley 2216. 

 Refs. — Carex capitata L. Svst. Nat. ed. 10, 1261 (1759), tvpe from n. Eur.; Kiik. in 

 Engler, Pflzr. 4'":70, fig. 15k N (1909); Mackenzie, Erythea 8:22," fig. 3 (1922). 



Sect. 4. Foetidae Tuckerm. Leaf-blades narrow. Spikes few to several, androgynous, in a 



dense subglobose or ovoid head. Perigynia spreading, plano-convex, membraneous, usually 

 obsoletely nerved, loosely enveloping the acliene, rounded at base, stipitate, the beak 

 oljlic|uely cut, at times bidentulate. Achenes lenticular. Stigmas 2. 



5. C. vernacula Bailey. Culms 0.5 to 2 dm. high, smooth ; leaf-blades 2 to 

 4 mm. wide, stiff; head about 1 cm. in diameter, the staminate flowers incon- 

 spieuoiLS; scales ovate, brown, sharp-pointed, rather wider and from shorter to 

 longer than perigynia ; perigynia ovoid, 3.5 to 4.5 mm. long, not margined, taper- 

 ing into the smooth beak V:i length of body. 



Alpine slopes, Sierra Nevada from Tulare Co. to Modoc Co. North to Wash- 

 ington, east to Colorado. 



Locs.— Mt. "Whitney, Bailey 2067; Mt. Goddard, Hall # Chandlrr 694; Stanislaus Peak, 

 A. L. Grant 534; Big Trees, Calaveras Co., RiUehrand 2304; Butte Co., B. M. Austin 1159; 

 Modoc Co., Manning 433. 



Refs.— Carex VERNAruLA Bailev, Bull. Torr. Club 20:417 (1893), tvpe from w. U. S.; 

 Mackenzie, Erythea 8:23, fig. 4 (1922). C. foetida W. Boott in Bot. Ca'l. 2:232 (1880), not 

 All. C. incurva Bailey, Contrib. TJ. S. Nat, Herb. 4:214 (1893), not Lightf. 



Sect. 5. Divisae Christ. Culms arising singly or in small clumps at intervals, mostly stiff, 

 dark-tinged at base, aphyllopodic. Leaf-blades narrow. Spikes few to many, ovoid or 

 oblong, androgynous or dioecious, more or less closely aggregated into an oblong or oblong- 

 ovoid head. Heads in some species dioecious or nearly so. Lower one to several bracts 

 developed, .short-prolonged, the others bract-like. Perigynia appressed-ascending, plano- 

 convex, smooth, often shining, coriaceous, more or less nerved on outer surface, sharp-edged 

 but not wing-margined, rounded and spongy at base, the obliquely cut beak in age bidentu- 

 late. Achenes lenticular, clo.sely enveloped. Stigmas 2. 



6. C. doug-lasii Roolt. Culms (i to 30 em. high; leaf-blades 1 to 2.5 mm. 

 wide, involute aliove and flat or channeled at base; heads dioeeious or nearl.y so; 

 staminate spikes linear-elliptic, 8 to 15 mm. long, 2.5 to 4 nun. wide, the scales 



