608 CYPERACEiE. ( SEDGE FAMILY.) 



Carej. Glaucous ; leaves 3" broad or more ; staminate spike prominent, mostly 

 stalked ; pistillate spikes long and alternately flowered, scattered and pedun- 

 cled; perigynium (as in the following varieties) elliptic, attenuate at both ends, 

 mostly less prominently nerved, and the beak not strongly recurved. Open 

 places, N. P^ng. to Mich., and southward; frequent. — Var. divaricXta, 

 Bailey. Tall and stout ; leaves narrower ; staminate spike large and stalked ; 

 pistillate spikes scattered, all but the upper one prominently peduncled, long ; 

 perigynium very large, divaricate, triangular, contracted into a stipe-like base 

 at least half as long as the body. Near Washington, Vasey. — Var. stylo- 

 FLEXA, Boott. Very weak and slender ; leaves 2" wide or less ; staminate 

 spike usually pedimcled ; pistillate 2-3, scattered, few-flowered, lowest droop- 

 ing; perigynium very long-pointed. S. E. Penn., and southward; frequent. 



= = Perigynium sharply triangular, short, and mostly not prominently beaked. 

 a. Spikes drooping or fiexuose. 



69. C. digitalis, Willd. Very slender, bright green, tufted, 6-18' high , 

 leaves very narrow (1-2" wide); staminate spike short-stalked; pistillate 

 spikes 2-4, all on filiform stalks and all but the u])per widely spreading or 

 drooping, linear, alternately flowered; perigynium very small, impressed- 

 nerved, longer than the acute whitish scale. — Dryish woods and glades, N. 

 Eug. to ]\Iich., and southward ; frequent. — Var. copulXta, Bailey. Leaves 

 much broader, and the culms weak and reclined ; spikes heavier and mostly 

 shorter ; perigynium larger, very sharp. Eich woods, central Mich., and 

 probably elsewhere westward. 



70. C. laxiculmis, Schwein. Differs from the variety of n. 69 chiefly 

 in its more cespitose habit, its densely glaucous-blue covering, very slender 

 culm, and very long and filiform peduncles. (C. retrocurva, Dewey.) — Glades, 

 N. Eng. to Mich, and Va. ; rare westward. 



b. Spikes erect. 



71. C. ptychocarpa, Steudel. Low, glaucous, 3-10' high; leaves flat 

 and rather broad (2" or more), much exceeding the culm ; bracts leafy and 

 much prolonged ; staminate spike very small and sessile, mostly overtopped 

 by the upper pistillate spike ; pistillate spikes 2 - 3, sessile or short-stalked or 

 rarely the lowest long-peduncled, erect ; perigynium tawny, much as in n. 69, 

 twice longer tlian the very thin obtuse scale. — Low grounds or swamps, E 

 Mass., N. J., Del., and southward ; local. 



72. C. platyph^lla, Carey. Low, spreading, glaucous, 6-12' high; 

 leaves V broad or more, mostly shorter than the culms ; bracts with thin and 

 sharp-pointed leaf-like tips 1-2' long ; staminate spike stalked ; pistillate 

 spikes 2-3, scattered, all more or less peduncled, alternately 2-10-flowered; 

 perigynium short, strongly many-striate, about the length of the acute or 

 cuspidate scale. — Rich shady woods and banks, N. Eug. to Mich., and south- 

 ward to Va. ; mostly local. 



73. C. Careyana, Torr. Tall and slender, mostly erect, 1-2° high, 

 leaves bright green, firm, 3 - 4" wide or more, shorter than the long culm ; 

 bracts leafy, longer than in the last ; staminate spike heavy and stalked ; pis- 

 tillate spikes 2-3 (mostly 2), the upper usually near the terminal spike, and 

 nearly sessile, the other remote and long-peduncled, loosely 2 - 8-flowered , 



