565 
CYPERACEAS. (SEDGE FAMILY.) 
more or less elongated 2-toothed beak: bracts leaf-like, with very 
short or obsolete sheaths (conspicuously sheathing in No. 118), 
much exceeding the culm (except No. 126) : scales brown or tawny: 
staminate spikes 2-3, stalked. — Vesicarive. 
118. C. retrorsa, Schw. Sterile spikes 1-3, the uppermost 
occasionally with a few fertile flowers, the rest more or less pistillate 
at the base; fertile spikes 4-5, oblong-cylindrical, erect, the upper ap¬ 
proximate and clustered , on short or included stalks, the lowest re¬ 
mote on a long exserted stalk, and with one or more of the others 
often bearing 1-2 short branches at the base; perigynia crowded , 
spreading and at length reflexed, strongly (few-) nerved, tapering from 
an ovoid contracted base into a conspicuously toothed beak much longer 
than the lanceolate scale. (C. reversa, Spreng.) — Marshy borders of 
streams, N. England to Wisconsin. — Culm nearly smooth : leaves and 
bracts 3"-4" wide, much exceeding the spikes, which are V- long. 
119. C. Schweinitzii, Dew. Sterile spikes commonly 2, the 
lower often pistillate at the base; fertile spikes 3-4, cylindrical, some¬ 
what drooping, densely flowered, often staminate at the apex, and occa¬ 
sionally the lower rather compound at the base, on smooth nearly 
included stalks; perigynia erect , oblong-ovoid, few-nerved, tapering 
into a long and smooth short-toothed beak, a little longer than the lan¬ 
ceolate long-awned scale. — Wet swamps, N. New England to New 
Jersey. — Culm 10'- 15' high, smooth: bracts and leaves-2"-3" 
wide, smooth except on the margin, much exceeding the culm : fer¬ 
tile spikes to 2long, rather narrow, and with the whole plant 
turning straw-color. 
120. C. vesicitria, L. Staminate spikes 2 - 3 ; fertile spikes 
mostly 2, rarely 3 or solitary, oblong or cylindrical, stout, approximate , 
the upper sessile, the lower on a short rough stalk ; perigynia oblong- 
ovoid , 17 -nerved at base , 10-nerved above, with a short tapering beak 
longer and broader than the pointed or long-tapering unaumed scale; 
culm sharply angled and rough; leaves and bracts green, equalling or 
rather longer than the culm. — Arctic America, and probably in N. 
New England. —Distinguished from the next by the shorter fertile 
spikes, on rough stalks, and by the more oblong perigynium, many- 
nerved at the base. 
121. C. Ill Oil lie, Tuckerman. Staminate spikes 3, rarely 2 or 
4 ; fertile spikes mostly 2, rarely 3 or solitary, long-cylindrical, remote, 
on smooth stalks , the lowest often nodding and loosely flowered ; peri¬ 
gynia roundish-ovoid , about 10-nerved, with a short tapering beak ter¬ 
minating in an oblique orifice, much longer and broader than the ta¬ 
per-pointed awnlcss scale; culm slender, sharply angled and rough;, 
leaves and bracts green, longer than the culm. (C. bullata, var. cy- 
lindracea, Dew., and C. vesicaria, var. cylindracea, Dew.) — Bogs, New 
England and Ohio. — Less robust than the last. 
48 
