﻿416 Mackenzie: Notes on Carex 



The original description of this species by Dewey in Wood's 

 Class Book is not satisfactory and it is easy to understand why 

 subsequent botanists have failed to recognize the plant. It is as 

 follows : 



"Staminate spikes 1-2 with oblong and blackish acutish 

 glumes; pistillate spikes 2-3, cylindric, staminate above, and 

 hence acutish, lowest short pedunculate; perig. ovate, compressed, 

 acute, glabrous, entire at the orifice, early falling off, glabrous, a 

 little longer than the oblong and acute glume; st. a foot and more 

 high, triquetrous and rough on the angles, with reticulated fila- 

 ments connecting the leaves towards the base; Ivs. erect, close; 

 whole plant glaucous, except the spikes. — Wet places, common." 

 In 1826, however, in his articles on caricography he had 

 described two closely related plants, one of which he called C. 

 acuta, and the other of which he called ''Carex stricia Good." 

 His description of the latter (Am. Journ. Sci. 10: 269) is an excel- 

 lent description of the plant I am now treating as Carex strictior 

 Dewey. After a thorough technical description, in which he 

 speaks of the nearly black pistillate scales and filamentose sheaths, 

 he says, "color of the plants, except the spikes glaucous green," 

 and ends up with the following: 



"This species, found in England and Sweden, was first recog- 

 nized in our country, by Mr. Schweinitz. It has probably been 

 confounded with C. acuta, which it much resembles. There can 

 be no doubt however that it is a distinct species. Though it 

 grows in similar situations with C. acuta, it does not form a hog, 

 but spreads over the surface of the marsh. It differs from that 

 species too in its color, in the appearance of its spikes, in its more 

 stiff and erect form and in its fruit being caducous'' [italics 

 Dewey's]. 



It will be noted that the points emphasized by him are the 

 same points emphasized in his description of Carex strictior 

 (5Mpm), namely, color of plant, "more stiff" form, "strictior," 

 and "caducous" or "early falling off" perigynia. His Carex 

 strictior grows in wet places and no mention is made of its growing 

 in bogs (i. e., dense tufts). 



Again while he included a description of Carex stricta in Wood's 

 Class Book he did not emphasize any of the points emphasized 

 by him in 1826, and he speaks of the plant being found in "wet 



