CYPERACEAE (SEDGE FAMILY) 93 



H- -i- Culms mostly shorter than the leaves: spikes looser flowered and more 

 scattered, often radical. 



66. Carex deflexa Rossii (Boott) Bailey, Mem. Torr. Bot. Club 1: 43. 

 1889. Stiff throughout, very strict, the leaves mostly equaling or exceeding 

 the culms, the whole plant usually light-colored: staminate spike much as in 

 the last, often larger: pistillate spikes 1-3, distinct or sometimes scattered, 

 loosely 1-4-flowered: radical spikes usually abundant: scales very sharp, 

 greenish- white or very rarely bearing an inconspicuous colored margin. (C. 

 Rossi Boott.) Mountains ; Colorado to British Columbia. 



7. Carex umbellata Schk. Riedgr. Nachtr. 75. f. 171. 1806. Rootstock 

 stout, mostly horizontal: culms many, mostly very short and crowded and 

 concealed among the leaves, sometimes 1 dm. long: leaves many, generally 

 short, stiff and curved, sometimes weak and straggling and 10-15 cm. long: 

 staminate spike 12 mm. or less long, not usually distinct and conspicuous: 



' pistillate spike usually crowded among the bases of the leaves, sometimes one 

 or more of them exserted and clustered with the staminate spike: perigynium 

 globose-elliptic, more or less flattened, produced into a flattened toothed beak 

 as long as the body. Colorado to Oklahoma; and common eastward. 



7a. Carex umbellata brevirostris Boott, Illustr. 2: 99. 1860. Beak much 

 shorter and minutely toothed, the perigynium rounder or somewhat 3-sided. 

 Mongollpn Mountains, New Mexico, and near Golden City, Colorado; also in 

 California and British America. 



3. Spikes androgynous, staminate above: pistillate flowers few, often remote, 

 usually on a more or less zigzag rachis: scales prolonged and leaf -like (sca- 

 rious and often short in No. 8) : perigynium smooth, or slightly hispid above, 

 mostly tightly inclosing the achenium, the beak, if any, straight. PHYLLO- 

 STACHYS Carey. 



* Culms all as long or nearly as long as the leaves: staminate flowers conspic- 

 juous: pistillate flowers very few and large: beak very short. PHYLLOSTACH- 



r YAE Bailey. 



8. Carex Geyeri Boott, Linn. Trans. 20: 118. 1846. Stoloniferous: culms 

 very slender, angled, rough, about 3 dm. high, about the length of the flat 

 rough-edged leaves: staminate portion of the spike usually appearing distinct, 

 1-3 cm. long: pistillate flowers 1-2, large, erect with the rachis: perigynium 

 triangular-obovoid, 6 mm. long, the conspicuous angles obtuse, one-nerved on 

 the two inner sides, very smooth, with a very short entire erose and hyaline 

 beak: scales thin and brown, acute, two to four times the length of the peri- 

 gynium. Mountains of Colorado, Utah, and Montana. 



* * Culms mostly much shorter than the leaves: staminate flowers inconspic- 

 uous: perigynium small, the beak produced to half its length (or more): scales 

 very green and much dilated, often concealing the perigynia, and readily mis- 

 taken for bracts. BRACTOIDEAE Bailey. 



9. Carex durifolia Bailey, Bull. Torr. Bot. Club 20: 428. 1893. Caespitose: 

 culms 3-15 cm. high, sharply angled: leaves lax and smooth: staminate portion 

 of the spike about 3-flowered: pistillate flowers 2-4, aggregated, more or less 

 spreading: perigynium globose-ovate, inconspicuously nerved, smooth or very 

 slightly scabrous above: lower scales longer than the culm. C. Backii. Dry 

 and rocky hills; Colorado to British America. 



4. Spike one (in our species), small, the pistillate flowers few: perigynium 

 smooth (sometimes minutely dentate on the angles), firm or horny, mostly 

 shining or glossy, lightly nerved or nerveless, bearing a short beak: scales ob- 

 tuse with hyaline margins: stigmas 3. LAMPROCHLAENAE Drejer. Small 

 plants, with creeping rootstocks. Our species all fall under the group Ru- 

 pestres Tuckm. 



10. Carex rupestris All. Fl. Ped. 2: 264. 1785. Caespitose and somewhat 

 Stoloniferous: culms obtusely angled, erect, 3-10 cm. high, usually a little 



