Monograph of North American Carices. 355 



92. Carex hystericina, Willdenow. 



C. spica sterili pedunculata ; fructiferis subternis, oblongo- 

 cylindraceis, crassis, demum cernuis, suprema incluse pe- 

 dunculata, caeteris exserte pedunculatis ; fructibus ovatis, 

 mflatis, subhorizontalibus, multinerviis, rostratis, ore bifido, 

 gluma oblonga aristata duplo longioribus. 



C. hystericina, Willd. sp. pi. iv. p. 282. Schk. car. t. Fff. f. 

 127. Purshfl. i. p. 43. MuM. gram. p. 252. Elliott shn. 

 p. 550. ? Dewey car. 1. c. x. p. 25. 



CWmabout a foot and a half high, acutely triquetrous, leafy, scabrous above. 

 Leaves longer than the culm, 2 lines broad, scabrous. Sterile spike on 

 a peduncle 1-3 inches long, cylindrical, triangular, bracteate, often 

 bearing a Tew fertile florets at the summit, or at the base ; glumes ovate- 

 lanceolate, mucronate, pale brown, with the keel green. Fertile spikes 

 2—4, generally 3, about an inch in length, densely fruited, at length 

 nodding, an inch or more distant ; upper one on a very short included 

 peduncle, the others on filiform peduncles, irom three fourths of an inch 

 to two inches m leugth ; glumes oblong, emarginate, ending in a sca- 

 brous awn, not half the length of the fruit. Fruit oblong, marked with 

 numerous distinct striaB, smooth, terminated by a long rostrum, which is 

 bifid at the extremity, at length spreading almost horizontally. Carr- 

 opsis ovate-triquetrous, angles smooth. 



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

 Flowers in the end of May. 



Obs. This species strongly resembles C. tentaculata, but 

 may be distinguished from it by its pedunculate spikes, 

 many-nerved fruit, and more delicate habit. Sometimes 

 the upper fertile spike is sterile at the summit, and the 

 lowest one very remote, on a peduncle three or four inches 

 long. The whole plant is of a yellowish-green color. 



93. Carex Pseudo-cyperus, Lin. 



C. spicis fertilibus quaternis, cylindricis, pedunculatis pendu- 

 lis crassis, superioribus subgeminatis j fructibus oblongo- 

 lanceolatis, rostratis, reflexis, multinerviis, apice divaricato 

 bifidis. 



