Notes on Carex—X 
KENNETH KENT MACKENZIE 
CAREX ROSEA ScHK. AND ITS ALLIES 
Schkuhr’s original illustration of Carex rosea in the Riedgraser 
(pl. ZZZ, Ff. 179) is drawn with his usual care and accuracy. Two 
culms in mature condition are shown. One has four spikes 
having respectively (commencing with the lowest) eight, seven, 
five, and five perigynia; and the other has five spikes having 
respectively eight, eleven, seven, six, and six perigynia. The 
detailed illustrations of the perigynia show that the body of the 
perigynium tapers or is but little contracted into the beak, and 
also that the perigynia are light green in color and are not con- 
spicuously white-hyaline at the orifice. It is further to be espe- 
cially noticed that the stigmas are slender and not twisted and 
that the exserted portion is about one third the length of the 
perigynium at flowering time. 
The plant so illustrated is a slender plant with leaf-blades 
averaging about 1.5 mm. in width. The lower spikes usually 
have from five to eight perigynia, but the number varies between 
three and twelve. The most distinctive features, however, are 
to be found in the shape of the stigmas, slender and not twisted, 
and in their light reddish brown color. This plant, the genuine 
Carex rosea, is not the plant usually so treated in the manuals, 
but is the plant which is the basis of many records of Carex rosea 
var. radiata. The only work known to me where the distinctive 
stigmas are alluded to is Boott’s Illustrations of the Genus 
Carex (2: 81), where the plant under discussion is treated as var. 
minor Boott of Carex rosea and briefly described and figured 
(pl. 224). It is a widely distributed species, ranging from Maine 
and Quebec, westward to North Dakota and southward to Georgia, 
Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. It flowers late in April or 
in May, is mature late in May or in June, and in July can be found 
only in very poor condition. 
The plant which has usually been taken for Carex rosea is a 
423 
