Notes on Carex 



Kenneth Kent Mackenzie 



Carex phaeocephala Piper 



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Carex leporina var. Americana Olney, Proc. Am. Acad. Arts & 

 Sci. 8:407. 1872 (name only). — Bailey, Proc. Am. Acad. 

 Arts & Sci. 22 : 152. 1886. 



" Carex leporina L." Bailey, in Coulter, Man. 396. 1885. 



Carex Preslii Steud." Bailey, Mem. Torrey Club 1 : 52. 1889. 



Carex petasata Dewey;" Holm, Am. Journ. Sci. IV. 16: 20. 

 1903. 



Carex phaeocephala Piper, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. II: 172. 

 1906. 



Clumps from medium-sized to large, strongly cespitose, the 

 rootstocks densely matted, the culms 1-3 dm. high, exceeding the 

 leaves, obtusely angled below, sharply angled and more or less 

 roughened above. Leaves three to six to a culm, clustered towards 

 the base, the sheaths much overlapping, whitish-hyaline towards 

 apex opposite the blades, the blades short, more or less involute, 

 ascending to recurving, 1.5-2 mm. wide, usually 5-15 cm. long, 

 roughened towards the apex ; spikes two to five (rarely seven) 



aggregated into an erect head 12-25 mm - lon g> 5~ 12 mm - wide> 

 the lower one or two spikes occasionally a little separate, the spikes 

 ovate to oblong, 6-12 mm. long, 5-8 mm. wide, obtuse at apex, 

 narrowed and often quite clavate at base (especially the uppermost), 

 the perigynia usually 10-20, appressed-ascending, the beaks incon- 

 spicuous, the staminate flowers basal, inconspicuous ; lower bracts 

 occasionally developing a short cusp, the upper scale-like ; scales 

 ovate, acute, dark-brownish or brownish with lighter midrib and 

 broad hyaline margins, as wide and as long as the perigynia ; 

 perigynia oblong-ovate, flat, plano-convex, distended over the 

 achene, 4.5 mm. long, 1.8 mm. wide, winged, round-tapering at base, 

 strongly nerved on outer surface, nearly nerveless or lightly nerved 

 on the inner, the body abruptly contracted into the beak, which 

 is 1 mm. long, rather minutely bidentate and serrulate on the 

 margins; achenes lenticular, brownish, obovate-oblong, 1.5 mm. 

 long, 1 mm. wide : stigmas two. 



This species, which is closely related to Carex leporina L., and 

 represents it in the Rocky Mountain region, has been known under 



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