398 North American Cypcracece. 



On account of its immaturity, little dependence can be 

 placed on the single specimen upon which C. Bigelowii was 

 originally established. It was collected many years since by 

 Dr. Bigelow upon the same mountain, and seems to be a 

 more slender form of the same plant. 



44. C. coMPACTA, R. Brow?i in Ross. voy. ; Rich. app. 

 FranM. journ. ed. 2. p. 35 ; Deioey ! car. I. c. 27. p. 237. t. 

 5. f. 63. 



Hab. Arctic America and Rocky Mountains ! — We have 

 never met with the original description of this species. 



45. C. MUTiCA, R. Brown in Rich, app, Frankl. journ. 

 ed. 2. p. 35. 



Hab. Arctic America, Dr. Richardson ! — We have seen 

 no original specimen of this species. The plant which Prof. 

 Dewey refers to C. mutica has 3 stigmas in one flower at least, 

 and appears to us to be C. limosa var. rarijiora. 



i 46. Carex Jamesii. 



Staminate spikes 2, approximate ; the lower one much smaller ; 

 fertile spikes 3, thick, oblong-cylindrical, densely flowered ; 

 the two upper approximate, on short peduncles not sheathed 

 at the base ; the lowest one arising near the base of the culm, 

 long peduncled ; fruit about 8-rovved ; perigynium ovate, in- 

 flated, with a very short, abrupt, bidentate beak, somewhat 

 exceeding the ovate acute scale. 



Whole plant glabrous. Culm about 6 inches high, stout, obtusely 

 angled. Leaves rigid, broadly linear, shorter than the culm. Stam. 

 spikes thick ; the upper nearly an inch long, densely flowered, the 

 lower closely sessile at its base ; scales oblong, mostly rather obtuse, 

 reddish brown, with a whitish midrib. Pist. spikes about an inch in 

 length, very thick, densely flowered. Perigynium light brown, glo- 

 bose-ovate, smooth, indistinctly ribbed, much larger than the obovate, 

 lenticular nut. Scales brown, with a pale keel. 



