

490 Bicknell : Ferns and flowering plants of Nantucket 



Da 



1 826. Not Schwein. & Torr. 



t,. varui, in im.^ ~ hors, not Muhl. 



Common in dryish spots near damp or swampy ground, often 

 in sandy soil, and in partial shade about the borders of low thickets. 

 Fully mature June 9 ; in the summer and autumn, its low, close tufts 

 of soft leaves make it easily recognizable, there being no species 

 on the island with which it might be confused. 



The name Carex Emmonsii, here restored to a place in our flora, 



has not been in use for many years. The plant so named by Dewey 



_— n n »1__l !i. In Horn 



Mon 



iod 



to understand how it could have remained for so long a pen 

 confused with the Carex varia of Muhlenberg. In 1889 (Mem. 

 Torrey Club 1 : 40, 41) Bailey showed that our common wood- 

 land Carex (C. communis Bailey), which had up to that time been 



■ _-t_:~u fViic name 



Muhl 



rightly belonged. But in correcting one error another was com- 

 mitted, and his mistaken relegation of the name Carex Emmonsii 

 to synonymy under C, varia Muhl. seems never to have been 

 called in question. Nevertheless, I do not think it will be dispute 

 by any one knowing the two plants that, although closely al ie , 



they are yet perfectly distinct. „ 



Carex Emmonsii often so closely resembles forms o 



r* Hornem. that it may be easily 



Willd. and Carex defli 



mistaken for them. Its relationship to these species is ^ 

 close but, disregarding other characters, it may be rea 1 y 

 tinguished from them by its narrower and longer-bea e 



gynia 



1 O * 1 



Carex varia Muhl. is a plant of dry, open, hilly or /^ 

 woodland. Its culms are mostly erect, noticeably sur P^ n ^ or 

 numerous very narrow leaves; the staminate spike is ^ 



even conspicuous, and commonly about 10 mm. definite 



mostly purplish pistillate spikes distinct or separated y 



intervals. 



more 



slender, commonly pro 



strate 



{^arex cmmonsn cuners m muic 3^»"-') — leaves, 



culms, much surpassed by the tufts of elongated nexu ^ 



some of which become 2. 5 mm. in width ; staminate % ? ^ t ^ 



small or inconspicuous, 2-6 mm. long, often part y P^ ^^ 

 summit ; fertile spikes contiguous in a short, close 



