NEW CALIFORNIAN CARICES. IO5 



Allied to C. fiisca. All. Tall and stiff, 2 to 3 feet 

 high, the culm smooth or nearly so; spikes usually 5, 

 ^ to i>^ inches long, compact, the lowest one 2 to 4 

 inches, remote and short peduncled, the others usually 

 shorter or more or less aggregated into a somewhat quad- 

 rifid head and sessile, or very nearly so, some of them 

 often nearly globular, the terminal one staminate below 

 for a-half or third its length; perigynium flat, obovate, 

 splashed with purple, but the edges usually light-colored, 

 nerveless, very abruptly rounded into a short and very 

 slender erose beak, mostly longer and always broader 

 than the purple and white-nerved sharp scale. — Mt. Dana, 

 Bolaiider, 5046; Bj'ezver, 1773. 



Var. LENis, n. var. 



Usually lower, more slender, the leaves softer and 

 more grass-like; perigynium white or nearly so through- 

 out, usually minutely pitted, and the spikes shorter, often 

 all nearly globular. — Bolander, 5046; Kellogg d- Har- 

 ford, 1080; Donner, Kellogg. 



Carex monile, Tuckm., var. Pacifica, n. var. 



C . vesicaria,W . Boot. Bot. Calif., ii, 252. 



Leaves broad; spikes thick and short, 1^4 inches or 

 less long; perigynium very thin, strongly few-nerved, 

 tapering, shining at maturity, 3 or more times longer than 

 the thin and brownish obtuse or muticous scale. — B reiver , 

 1654; Donner, Brandcgce. 



A careful study of the American and European plants 

 convinces me that they are distinct, and that C , vesicaria, 

 Linn., does not occur in this country.. C. monile var. 

 Pacifica, to which I have referred all that has been called 

 C . vesicaria in this country, differs from C. vesicaria, 

 among other things, in its much stronger nerved perigy- 

 nium which is more tapering in shape, and by its much 



2d Sep.., Vol. HI. ( 9 ) July 3, 1891. 



