340 Monograph of North American Varices. 



spreading almost horizontally when mature, giving the spikes a squai- 

 rose appearance ; rostrum long and pyramidal, subbifid at the apex. 



Hab. In wet boggy places and along creeks, from New- 

 Hampshire to New-York ; common along the Connecticut 

 river. In various parts of Berkshire county, Massachu- 

 setts. Deivey. Dr. Barratt found it at the foot of the 

 White Hills, and in the Highlands of New-York. Flowers 

 in May. 



Obs. This species has a remarkably rough appearance. 

 The whole plant is dark green. 



80. Carex conoidea, Schkuhr. 



C. spicis fertilibus binis vel tribus, oblongis remotis, laxiuscu- 



lis, suprema subsessili, inferioribus longe-pedunculatis ; 



fructibus oblongo-conicis, obtusis, apice recurvis gluma 



aristata aequantibus. 

 C. conoidea, JVilld. sp. pi. iv. p. 2S0. Schk. car. t. Vvv. 



Purshfl. i. p. 43. Muhl.gram. p. 48. Elliott sk. ii. p. 24? 

 C. blanda, Dewey car. 1. c. x. p. 45. 



Culm 6 — 12 inches high, triquetrous, leafy, erect, scabrous on the angles. 

 Leaves thin and delicate, flat, somewhat glaucous, shorter than the culm. 

 Sterile spike on a short rigid peduncle ; glumes lanceolate subobtuse, 

 or mucronate. Fertile spikes 2 or 3, sometimes even 4, oblong, rather 

 loose-flowered ; the upper one almost sessile, the rest on filiform pedun- 

 cles, which increase in length downward ; the peduncles sometimes so 

 long that the spikes are subpendulous; bractece resembling the leaves; 

 sheaths white and membranaceous; glumes ovate, with a subulate mu- 

 cro, white except on the carina, which is green, rather shorter than the 

 fruit. Fruit obovate or oblong, narrowed at the base, subtriquetrous, 

 striate, apex recurved and gibbous; orifice entire. 



Hab. In woods, and on the margin of meadows; Canada 

 to Carolina ; common. Flowers in May. 



Obs. There is some diversity in the appearance of this 

 plant. Schkuhr's figure (which was taken from a speci- 

 men sent to Willdenow by Muhlenberg) does not represent 

 well the common variety. When it grows in rather dry- 

 woods the culm is tali, the spikes looser flowered, and the 



