266 Mackenzie : Notes on Carex 



cending or more or less spreading perigynia below and the incon- 

 spicuous staminate flowers above ; bracts scale-like, the lower pro- 

 longed, shorter than the head ; scales ovate -oblong, obtuse (or 

 lower acute), light-brownish with straw-colored midrib and hyaline 

 margins, about the width of the perigynia but shorter ; perigynia 

 ovate, plano-convex, thick and corky at base, 3.5 mm. long, 1.5 

 mm. wide, the edges sharp-angled but not winged, nerved on 

 outer, nerveless on inner surface, at maturity round-truncate at 

 base (the young perigynia rounded), tapering at apex into the ser- 

 rulate bidentate beak, this X A- X A the length of the whole (or 



longer in the young perigynia) ; achene lenticular, occupying 

 upper half of perigynium body, sessile, oval, 1.5 mm. long, 1 

 mm. wide ; stigmas two. 



This is one of the numerous forms at various times referred to 

 Carex marcida Boott. The most satisfactory point of distinction 

 between the two species is that the present species has the body 

 of the perigynium corky at base, with the achene in the upper part, 

 while in C. marcida the perigynium body is not corky at base and 

 the achene is inserted in the lower part of the body. 



Specimens examined : 



Hat 



Mexico: Puerta de St. Diego, 6500 ft., C. V. 



Mad 



J 



Carex scirpoidea Michx. and its allies 



Among the most widely distributed of the Canadian species 

 of Carex is the well-known Carex scirpoidea Michx. Found in 

 mountainous country, it ranges from the Gaspe region to the Ca- 

 nadian Rockies and northward to Alaska, and in the United States 

 it occurs in many places in the extreme north — for example, in 

 Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Montana. In the eastern 

 part of its range it has no near relatives, but in western Canada 

 and the northwestern part of the United States, it is either wholly 

 or largely supplanted by certain allied species, several of which 

 have a much more southern range than Carex scirpoidea itself. 



Of the five allied species which I have been able to recognize, 

 one — Gantx pseudoscirpoidca Rydberg — has been carefully de- 

 scribed by its author ; two others — Carex stenochlacna (Holm) 

 and Carex gigas (Holm) — have been published as varieties of 



