CYPERACE^E. (SEDGE FAMILY.) 599 



31. C. atrata, L., var. o vata, Boott. Very slender but erect, 1-2 high ; 

 culm rather sharp, roughish above ; leaves narrow but flat, shorter than the 

 culm ; spikes 3-5, all but the terminal one ou slender stalks 1-2' long, droop- 

 ing when mature, 1' long or less, ovate-oblong or short-cylindric, reddish- 

 brown ; perigynium broadly ovate, thin and puncticulate, very short-beaked, 

 the orifice slightly notched ; scale blunt, thin-margined, about as long as the 

 perigynium. (C. atrata, Man.) White Mountains, N. H., Smugglers' Notch, 

 Vt. (Brainerd), and northward. 



M- -w- Palndose ; plant larger. 



32. C. fusca, All. Rather slender but stiff, 1-3 high; culm sharp, 

 roughish above ; leaves very narrow, rough, mostly shorter than the culm ; 

 spikes 2-4, the terminal rarely all staminate, all sessile and approximate or 

 the lowest sometimes very short-stalked, varying from globular to narrowly 

 cylindric (often becoming 1^' long), dark brown or variegated; perigynium 

 elliptic and beakless, whitish and granular, nearly nerveless, the orifice entire ; 

 stamiuate scales very long-lanceolate, the pistillate lance-ovate and very sharp, 

 conspicuously longer than the perigyuium. (C. Buxbaumii, Wahl.) Bogs, 

 throughout ; frequent. (Eu.) 



* 3. 1- 2. Rvjidce. 



33. C. VUlgaris, Fries. Low and stiff, about 1 or sometimes 18' high; 

 culm sharp, smooth or rather rough above ; leaves narrow and stiff, shorter 

 than the culm, glaucous-blue ; staminate spike sessile or nearly so ; spikes 2 - 

 4, all sessile or rarely the lowest very short-stalked, short and erect (!' long or 

 less), very densely flowered or sometimes becoming loose below, the lowest 

 subtended hv a bract 1-3' long; perigynium appressed, oval or round-ovate, 

 mostly finely striate toward the base, the beak entire or very nearly so, bright 

 green until over-mature ; scale ovate and very obtuse, purple with a faint white 

 nerve, conspicuously narrower and shorter than the perigynium, thus causing 

 the spike in the growing plant to assume a characteristic green-and-black ap- 

 pearance. Swales and low meadows along the sea-board, from Mass, north- 

 ward ; common. (Eu.) 



Var. Strictiformis, Bailey. Taller (1| - 2^ high) and looser ; culms slen- 

 der ; leaves long and narrow, lax, scarcely glaucous ; stamiuate spike longer 

 peduncled ; pistillate spikes looser and often longer, mostly brown or tawny- 

 green. (C. limula, Man.) Swales from E. Penn. northward, near the sea- 

 board ; frequent. Often confounded with n. 34, but easily distinguished by the 

 non-cespitose habit, sheaths not fibrillose, and the short scales very obtuse. 



Var. hyperbdrea, Boott. Somewhat stolouiferous, low, often smaller 

 than the type; spikes shorter and mostly loosely flowered, often becoming 

 very thin ; scales generally longer, giving the spikes a darker color ; stigmas 

 often 3. (C. rigida, var. (?) Bigelovii, Tuckerm.) Alpine summits of N. H-., 



Vt., andN. Y/ (Eu.) 



* 3. -1-3. Acutce. 



Stigmas 2 ; scales not conspicuously acute, or if so, divaricate. 

 = Spikes erect, or rareb/ spreading in n. 34. 



34. C. stricta, Lam. Tall and slender but erect, 2-4 high, generally 

 in dense clumps when old, or rarely in small tufts ; culm sharp, rough above ; 



