CYPERACE^. (sedge FAMILY.) 599 



.31 . C. atrita, L., var. OVkta, Boott. Very slender Imt erect, 1 - 2° high ; 

 culm rather sharp, ronghish ahove ; leaves narrow hut flat, shorter than the 

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

 ing when mature, 1' long or less, ovate-ohlong or short-cyliudric, reddish- 

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

 the orifice slightly notched ; scale blunt, thin-margined, al)out as long as the 

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

 Vt. {Brainerd), and northward. 



■^ ■*-*■ Palmloae ; plant larcjcr. 



32. C. flisca, 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 ; 

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

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

 throughout; frequent. (Eu.) 



* 3. — t- 2. Biyidce. 



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 (1' long or 

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

 subtended by 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 iu the growing plnut 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 ; staminate 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. hyperb6rea, Boott. Somewhat stoloniferous, low, often smaller 

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

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

 often 3. (C. rigida, var. (?) Bigelovii, Titckcnn.) — Alpine summits of N. II., 

 Vt., andN. Y. ^ (Eu.) 



* 3. — -H- 3. Acuta'. 



•*-*■ Stigmas 2; scales not conspicuously acute, or if so, divaricate. 

 = Spikes erect, or rareli/ 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; 



