344 Monograph of North American Car lets. 



quetris, acutis striatis, basi elongatis ore obscure bidentata, 

 gluma ovata cuspidata longioribus vel subaequalibus. 



C. anceps, Willi, sp. pi. iv. p. 278. Schk. car. t. Fff. f 128. 

 Purshfl. i. p. 42. Dewey car. 1. c. x # p. 35. 



C, plantaginea, Muhl. gram. p. 235. Elliott sk. ii. p. 547. 



C. heterosperma, Wahlenberg . 



Culm high, (sometimes taller) triquetrous, with two of the sides much 

 broader than the other, smooth. Leaves variable in breadth, the radi- 

 cal ones often an inch or more broad, especially after the plant has done 

 flowering, smooth, striate or reticulate, and considerably glaucous ; 

 culm leaves much narrower, very long; sheaths white and membrana- 

 ceous. Sterile spike pedunculate, the peduncle compressed ; glumes 

 generally 3, sometimes 4, and according to Muhlenberg, even 5, 

 ovate, obtuse or acute; margin white; keel green. Fertile spikes 

 about an inch long, 10 — 12-flowered ; inferior peduncles subancipitous, 

 and exserted ; glumes ovate, cuspidate, or subemarginate, with a short 

 bristle at the apex, at first shorter, but in the mature plant a little longer 

 than the fruit, whitish. Fruit ovate, conspicuously striate, smooth, al- 

 ternately distant on the somewhat flexuous rachis, witha short ros- 

 trum. 



Hab. In woods ; Canada to Carolina ; very common. Flow- 

 ers in April and May. 



Obs The hyemal and radical leaves, after the plant has 

 done flowering, are very broad and resemble those of 

 Plantago lanceolata ; hence many botanists have confound- 

 ed it with the C. plantaginea of Lamarck, but it is easily 

 distinguished from the plant by comparing it with our de- 

 scription. Sometimes radical leaves are quite narrow, but 

 still it is a species easily recognised when once known. 



78. Carex oligocarpa, Schkuhr. 



C. spicis fertilibus tribus, pedunculatis, paucifloris ; peduncu- 

 lis inferioriiius elongatis ; fructibus brevi-ovatis, acute tri- 

 quetris, rostellatis, ore integris, gluma ovata longioribus. 



C. oligocarpa, Willd. sp. pi. iv. p. 279. Schk. car. t. Vvv. 

 170. Purshfi* i. p. 44. Muhl. gram. p. 242. 



