﻿BULLETIN 



TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB 



NOVEMBER, 191 5 

 Notes on Carex — IX 



Carex straminea Willd. and some of its nearest allies 

 The original description of Carex straminea Willd. (Schkuhr, 

 Riedgr. 49. 1801) reads as follows: " C. spiculis ovatis distantibus, 

 capsulis obovatis acuminatis, margine hispidis." The accom- 

 panying figure (/. 34) illustrates a plant with a strongly obovate 

 perigynium body abruptly contracted into a beak much less than 

 half the length of the body. The identity of the species was for 

 many years obscured owing to the fact that Schkuhr later (Riedgr. 

 Nachtr. /. 1/4. 1 806) gave another illustration of a plant which he 

 took for Carex straminea Willd. Unfortunately he illustrated a 

 related but distinct species {Carex straminea var. brevior Dewey), 

 and further changed the description (I. c. 23) to correspond with 

 the plant so illustrated. 



Professor Bailey (Mem. Torrey Club i: 21-22. 1889) pointed 

 out this error, and at the same time identified Carex straminea Willd. 

 with a slender weak plant which had been distributed as Carex 

 tenera Dewey by Sartwell and by Olney. In this identification he 

 was followed by Professor Fernald (Proc. Am. Acad. 37 : 450- 1902) , 

 who later also pointed out that the plant distributed by Sartwell 

 and by Olney was in fact the real Carex tenera Dewey (Rhodora 8: 

 165. 1906). The fact that this plant has an ovate perigynium 

 body, and the genuine Carea; straminea Willd. an obovate perigynium 

 body was not pointed out. Field work and a steady accumulation 

 of specimens has served to emphasize the differences between these 



