CYPERACE.E. (sedge FAMILY.) 587 



2. S. olig^ntha, Kll. Culms slender, 2° hip:h, the anpjles somewhat 

 winged ; Icdrt s lined r (2" wide), smooth excc])t the scsiltrous apex ; lateral f;vs- 

 cides 1 or 2, usually on long exserted peduncles ; achene ovate, on a tuberculate 

 disk. — Va. to Fhi. and Tex. 



* # Achene papillose or uarti/. 



3. S. paucifl6ra, Muhl. Smoothish or hairy ; culm slender (9 - 24' high) ; 

 leaves narrowly lim-ar; fascicles few-flowered, the lateral pedunculate, sessile, 

 or wanting; bracts ciliate ; achene globose-ovate; the disk a narrow ring 

 bearing 3 pairs of minute tubercles. — N. H. to Ohio, south to Fla. and Tex. 



* * * Achene reticulated or wrinkled. 



4. S. reticularis, Michx. (I'l. 5, fig. 6-10.) Culms slender, erect, 

 scabrous (1 -21^ high) ; leaves linear (1 - 1^" wide), smooth ; lateral fascicles 

 1-3, loose, remote, nearly erect, on short often included peduncles ; bracts gla- 

 brous ; achene globose, rerjnlarli/ reticulated and pitted, not hairy, resting upon 

 a double greenish conspicuously 3-lobed disk, the inner appressed to and de- 

 ciduous with the achene. — E. Mass. to Fla. — Var. pruESCENs, Britton. Edges 

 of reticulations more or loss hairy, especially toward the apex ; lateral fascicles 

 generally on longer peduncles. I'ine-barrens of N. J. to Fla. — Var. ouscura, 

 Britton. Achene bony, its surface with very obscure reticulations, nearly 

 smooth at the summit. R. I. and X. C. 



5. S. Torreyana, "NValpers. Culms weak, diffuse, slightly scabrous or 

 smooth ; leaves linear (2-4" wide), smooth ; lateral fascicles loose, on more or 

 less elongated and drooping Jil if or m peduncles ; achene irregularli/ pitted-reticu- 

 lated or pitted-rugose icith the ridges sometchat spiralli/ arranged and more or 

 less hair 11 (sometimes smooth); otherwise as in the last. (S. laxa, Torr.) — 

 Pine-barrens, N. J. to Fla. and Tex. 



6. S. verticillkta, Muhl. Smooth ; culms simple, slender (4-24' high) ; 

 leaves narrowly linear ; ya.sr/c/f's 3- 9-flowered, 4- 6, sessile in an interrupted 

 spikelet ; achene globose (Y' broad), somewhat triangular at base, rough- 

 u-rinkUd with short elevated ridges; disk obsolete. — E. Mass. to Ont., Minn., 

 and south to the Gulf. 



16. CAREX, Ruppius. Skdgk. (By L. II. Bailey.) 



Flowers unisexual, destitute of floral envelopes, disposed in spikes; the 

 staminate consisting of three stamens, in the axil of a bract, or scale ; the 

 pistillate comprising a single pistil with a bifid or trifid style, forming in fruit 

 fi hard lenticular or triangular achene, which is enclosed in a sac (perigi/ntum) 

 formed by the complete union of the borders of a bractlet or of connate bract- 

 lets and borne in the axil of a bract, or scale. Staminate and pistillate flow- 

 ers borne in different i)arts of the spike (spike androgi/vous), or in separate 

 spikes on the same culm, or rarely the plant dicccious. — Perennial grnss like 

 herl)s with mo.stly triangular culms. .'3-ranked leaves, usually with rough mar- 

 gins and keel, and spikes in the axils of leafy or scale-like bracts, often aggre- 

 gated into heads. An exceedingly critical genus, the study of which should 

 be attempted only with complete and fully mature specimens. (The classical 

 Latin name, of obscure signification ; derived by some from Ktlpw, to cut, on ac- 

 count of the sharp leaves — as the English name Shear-grass.) (PI. 5 and 6.) 



