CTPERACE.E. (SEDGE FAMILY.) 527 



filiform nodding stalks : bracts exceeding the culm, with short or nearly obsolete 

 sheaths ; perigynia ovoid-triangular, very smooth and thin, with an entire or very 

 minutely notched orifice, longer than the ovate short-awned white scale. (C. 

 prasina. Wail.) — Kills and wet meadows ; rather common. — In aspect some- 

 what resembles the smaller short-awned forms of No. 51, with which it has points 

 of affinity, though differing materially in the 3 stigmas and triangular fruit. 



92. C scahl'ata, Schw. 'Fertile spikes 4-5, cylindrical, erect, rather 

 distant, densely flowered, the lower on long stalks ; bracts without sheaths, exceed- 

 ing the calm; perigynia ovoid, contracted at the base, prominently few-nerved, 



rough, spreading at maturity, with an obliquely notched beak, longer than the 

 ovate slightly ciliate brown scale; culm, leaves, and bracts very rough. — Wet 

 meadows and swamps, New England to Penn., Michigan, and northward. 



93. C SilllivfiBitii, Boott. Fertile spikes 3-5, commonly 4, narrowly cy 



lindrical, erect, loosely flowered, the upper approximate, the lowest often remote, 

 tapering towards the base and slightly compound, all on rough stalks; bracts 

 sheathing, not exceeding the hairy culm ; perigynia elliptical, hairy, slightly 

 Btalked, with an entire or notched orifice, rather longer than the ovate hairy- 

 fringed rough-awned white scale. — Woods, Columbus, Ohio, Sullivant. — About 

 2° high, with hairy leaves and bracts, and slender fertile spikes l'-l^' long. 

 Resembles the next, but is at once distinguished by the erect spikes, hairy and 

 nerveless fruit, and hairy leaves. 



§ 8. Perigynia slightly inflated. 3-anglcd, smooth and shining, green, with a straight 

 tapering beak terminating in 2 small membranaceous teeth (nearly obsolete 

 in No. 96) : lower bracts green and sheathing : pistillate scales tawny, becom- 

 ing white : staminate spike solitary, stalked : pistillate spikes 3-4, loosely flow- 

 ered, all on long and filiform nodding stalks. 



*• Fertile spikes long and slender, remote: perigynia few-nerved : bracts equalling or 

 exceeding the culm. — Debiles. 



94. C arctafil, Boott. Fertile sjiikes few-flowered and narrowed towards 

 the base; perigynia ovoid-elliptical, triangular, short-stalked, rather blunt at the base, 

 the beak very short, longer than the pointed scale. (C. sylvatica, Dew., not of 

 Hudson. C. Knieskernii, Dew.) — Woods and meadows, New England to Penn- 

 sylvania, and northward. 



95. C debilis, Michx. Staminate spike occasionally fertile at the apex; 

 fertile spikes with loose alternate flowers, on a someichat zigzag rhachis ; perigynia ob- 

 long, tapering at each end, twice as long as the ovate-lanceolate awned scale. (C. 

 tenuis, Rudge. C. flcxuosa, Muld.) — Moist meadows, N. New England to 

 Pennsylvania, and southwestward. 



# # Fertile spikes short : perigynia nerveless, or very obscurely nerved in No. 97 ; 

 bracts erect, shorter than the culm. — Flexiles. 



96. C capillfaris, L. Fertile spikes commonly 3, minute, with about 6 alter 

 nate flowers ; perigynia oblong-ovoid, contracted at the base, tapering into a long slight 

 ly serrulate beak, with an oblique nearly entire orifice, longer than the ovate scale. 

 — Point de Tour, Lake Michigan; alpine summits of the White Mountains, 

 New Hampshire, and high northward. — An extremely delicate species, 4 '-6 

 high, with spikes \' -%' long, and a line or less in width. (Eu.) 



