336 Monograph of North American Carices. 



spreading 1 , smooth, about 5 nerved, attenuated into a long straight ros- 

 trum, which is slightly bifid at the orifice. Caryopsis exactly trique- 

 trous, puncticulate, scabrous or crenulate on the margin. 



Hab. In wet meadows; Canada to Georgia; common. 

 Flowers in May and June. Plant, yellowish-green. 



Ous. This species varies considerably in the length of its 

 fertile spikes ; sometimes they are ovate, but more fre- 

 quently nearly cylindrical. They are about the thickness 

 of the little finger, and with the long projecting beaks of 

 the fruit, exhibit a remarkably squarrose appearance. It 

 strongly resembles C. hystericina, but differs in its sessile 

 spikes, 5 nerved fruit, &c. 



69. Carex nigra, Allioni. 



C. spica sterili pedunculata ; fertilibus, binis vel tribus, (inter- 

 dum quaternis) subremotis, oblongis (atris) brevi-bracteatis, 

 sessilibus, erectis ; fructibus obovatis, compresso-triquetris, 

 subacutis, ore integris, gluma ovata obtusiuscula subae- 

 quantibus. 



C. nigra, Schk. car.t. Aaa. f. 115. Allioni fl. Pedem. No. 

 2310. De Cand. syn. fl. Gall p. 



C saxatilis, Purshfl. i. p. 33? 



Culm 8 — 12 inches high, erect, triquetrous, very smooth. Leaves flat, 

 smooth, rather rigid, shorter than the culm, carinate. Sterile spike on 

 a short rigid peduncle, lanceolate ; glumes oblong, obtuse, with white 

 membranaceous margins. Fertile spikes 2 — 4, (usually 3) rather re- 

 mote, oblong, or ovate-oblong ; braclece at the base short ; glumes ovate, 

 blackish-brown, more or less obtuse, generally about as long as the fruit, 

 but sometimes a little longer ; keel prominent and often white, border 

 yellowish. Fruit obovate, compressed, a little spreading, smooth, with- 

 out nerves ; orifice very minute, entire. Stigmas often 2. 



Hab. In Labrador. In wet places around the peak of Mount 

 Washington, one of the highest summits of the White Hills, 

 New-Hampshire. Dr. Barratt. Dr. BigeUw. Flowers in 

 July. 



