622 CYPERACE^. (sedge FAMILY.) 



or occasionally the lowest 1 or 2 separate, spreading, loosely flowered, tawny 

 or frequently greenish; perigynium narrowly ovate, thin, longer than the 

 scale, the points much spreading and very conspicuous. (C. mirabilis, Dewey.) 



— Shady places, throughout ; frequent. 



Var. brevior, Dewey. (PI. 6, fig. 6-10.) Culm always stiff, li-2i° 

 high, longer than the stiff long-pointed leaves ; spikes 3-8, all distinct, con- 

 tiguous or more or less separated, large (3-5" broad), globular, the head 

 always short and erect ; perigynium orbicular or ovate-orbicular, often cor- 

 date at base, mostly very broadly winged. (C. straminea, and vars. typica, 

 hyalina, and Meadii, last ed.) — Dry soils, throughout ; common. 



Var. aperta, Boott. Culm slender but strict below the head, 1-2° high, 

 grooving in dense tufts ; leaves very narroAv, usually much shorter than the 

 culm ; spikes 4-6, large, heavy, much contracted below, usually all separated, 

 becoming rusty, disposed in a weak or nodding head; perigynium narrowly 

 ovate. — Bogs, throughout; rare westward. Transition to n. 128, from which 

 the ovate perigynia distinguisli it. 



Var. invlsa, W. Boott. Culm very slender, weak above ; leaves very nar- 

 row wath exceedingly long thin points, about the length of the culm ; spikes 

 small (3" broad or less), ovate, variously disposed in dense or open heads or 

 sometimes the lowest remote or even subradical, rusty, the lower ones sub- 

 tended by filiform bracts 2-5' long. — Swales near the sea-board, Maine to 

 Del. ; infrequent. Apt to be confounded with n. 128. 



Var. al^ta, Bailey. Culm very stiff, 1^-3^ high, longer than the stiff 

 leaves ; spikes very large, oblong or conical, always pointed, usually all con- 

 tiguous, green or sometimes becoming tawny ; perigynium orbicular or orbic- 

 ular-obovate, very abruptly contracted into a short beak which is prominent 

 in the spike. (C. alata, Torr.) — Swales, Mass. to 111., and southward ; rare 

 and uncharacteristic far inland. 



Var. cumulata, Bailey. Culm very stiff, 2-3° high, greatly exceeding 

 the firm leaves ; spikes 5 - 30, all aggregated or densely capitate, green, widely 

 divergent, pointed above, very abruptly contracted or even truncate at base, 

 very densely flowered ; perigynium small, broad, very obscurely nerved, the 

 points, inconspicuous. — Dry grounds, Penn. to N. Eng., and northward ; rare. 



Var. foenea, Torr. Culm very stiff, longer than the leaves, 1-2° high; 

 spikes 4-8, contiguous or separated, never densely aggregated, prominently 

 contracted both above and below, very densely flowered, green, or often silvery- 

 green. (C. foenea, last ed., excl. vars.; not Willd.) — Near the sea-coast; 

 frequent. 



C. LEPOKiNA, L. Distinguished from C. straminea, var. brevior, as follows : 



— Usually lower ; spikes rusty-brown, ovoid or oblong, erect or appressed, more 

 or less contracted both above and below, contiguous in an interrupted head V 

 long or less ; perigynium lance-ovate, thin, very narrowly margined, erect and 

 appressed, obscurely nerved. — About Boston {W. Boott, Morong). (Adv- 

 from Eu.) 



* 12. — •»- 3, Cyperoidece. 



133. C. syehnocephala, Carey. Erect, 3- 18' high, leafy; head^-T 

 long ; perigynium very slender, faintly nerved, 5-6 times longer than the ex- 

 ceedingly small achene, mostly a little longer than the sharp scale. — Glades, 

 central N. Y. to Minn., and far westward ; rare. 



