CYPERACE.^. (sedge FAMILY.) G21 



Var. minor, Boott. Much smaller, 6-10' high, the leaves very narrow; 

 head very small and darker brown ; spikes very small (2 - 4" long). — Rocky and 

 sterile places, northward ; frequent. 



++ ++ 4-*. Peri(jjnium ovate or broader, thickened in the middle, wing-margined 



{in u. 129 viarginless). 



— Head silvery-brown, silvery-green, or silvery-whitish. 



129. C. adlista, Boott. Very stiff and stout, 1^-2^° high, in dense tufts ; 

 head very heavy, erect, varying from glol)ular to oblong, silvery-brown ; spikes 

 5- 10, globular and heavy, all aggregated or sometimes distinct, the lowest 1 

 or 2 subtended by a short and very broad-based, nerved and pointed bract ; 

 perigyuium broadly ovate, wingless or very nearly so, plump, shining, nerved 

 on the outer face but nerveless on the inner, filled by the large achene ; scale 

 acute, about the length of the perigyuium. {C\ j inguis, Bailey.) — Dry and 

 mostly hard soils, Mt. Desert, Maine {Grecnleaf), and northward, and Craw- 

 ford Co., Mich. {B(uley), to X. Minn., and far northwestward; local. 



130. C- fdenea, Willd. Slender, erect or the top of the culm flexuose, 

 1-2° high ; head long and weak, often nodding ; spikes 5-8, small, nearly 

 globular and much contracted below, silvery-green, alternately disposed ; peri- 

 gyuium varying from ovate to long-ovate, very thin, much longer than the 

 small achene, prominently rough-margined, strongly many-nerved on both 

 faces, especially on the small inner face; bracts entirely wanting or inconspic- 

 uous. (C. adusta, last ed.) — Dryish copses, N. Eng. to Penn. and Minn. ; not 

 common. — Var. perplexa, Bailey. Mostly taller and stouter ; spikes larger 

 and less attenuated or even truncate below, approximate or even aggregated, 

 the head erect or nearly so and the lowest bract occasionally prominent; peri- 

 gyuium tliicker and firmer in texture. N. Eng. to Minn.; infrequent. 



131. C. silicea, Olney. Stiff, 1 -2° high, in clumps; leaves very narrow, 

 becoming involute, not exceeding the culm; head 1-3' long, usually flexuose 

 or nodding above the middle at maturity ; spikes 5-8, silvery-white or silvery- 

 tawny at full maturity, all more or less separated, ovate, conspicuously con- 

 tracted below and cone-shaped above, erect on the culm; perigyuium very 

 broad-ovate and very thin, obscurely nerved, appressed, about as long as the 

 acute colorless scale. (C. foenea, var. sabulonum, last ed. ; C. straminea, var. 

 moniliformis, Tuckerm.) — Sands of the sea-shore, Maine to N. J.; frequent. 



= = Head dull brown or green (usually somewhat silvery in var. foenea ofn. 132). 



132. C. straminea, Willd. Very slender, erect, but the top of the culm 

 often flexuose, 1-3° liigh; leaves narrow and long-pointed, stiff, shorter than 

 the culm ; spikes 3-8, tawny, very small (2-3" broad), globular or sometimes 

 a little tapering below from the presence of many staminate flowers, usually all 

 entirely distinct on the very slender, often zigzag or flexuose rhachis ; bracts 

 none, or only the lowest conspicuous; perigyuium .>imall and ovate, nerved on 

 both faces but never unusually prominently nervcil on the inner face (as is the 

 perigyuium of u. 130), the ])oints spreading and rather conspicuous; scale 

 acute, about the length of the perigyuium. {C. straminea, var. tenera, last 

 ed.) — Dryish copses and fields; common. Immensely variable. 



Var. mir^bilis, Tuckerm. Culm long and mostly weak, often 4° high, 

 much longer than the loose leaves ; spikes 4-8, larger, usually all contiguous) 



