Carex. CYPERACE^E. 235 



strongly nerved hyaline-margined base, the lower 3 to 5 foliaceous, much exceeding 

 the stem : spike globose, capitate, involucrate, straw-colored, of from 5 to 20 densely 

 crowded spikelets, or the lowest distinct ; scales membranous, pale-ferruginous, ovate- 

 lanceolate, acuminate : perigynium ovate-lanceolate, attenuate to an elongated sharply 

 bidentate beak, the winged margins serrate, slenderly nerved, spongy at base, about 

 as long and broad as the scale : nutlet oval, lenticular. Proc. Amer. Acad. vii. 

 393, and Bot. King Exp. 366. 



In the Sierra Nevada, from the Yosemite Valley northward ; near Virginia City and on the 

 Truckee River, Nevada ; also in Colorado. Allied to 0. sychnocephala, Carey, from which it dif- 

 fers in its shorter leaves, more numerous spikelets, bracts expanded at base into a membranaceous 

 border, and broader and more ovate irregularly nerved perigyuium. Olney. The perigyuium 

 is marked with a dark fissure extending from the beak as far as the nutlet. 



22. C. straminea, Schk., var. congesta, Boott. Stem | to 2 feet high, ob- 

 tusely angled, nearly smooth : leaves flat, 1^ or 2 lines broad, shorter than the stem : 

 bracts membranous, scale-like, not exceeding the spikelets or rarely the lowest foli- 

 aceous and exceeding the stem : spike variegated, pale green and chestnut, ^ to 1 

 inch long, f of an inch thick, oblong, triangular-ovoid, or subspherical, of from 3 

 to 8 crowded ellipsoidal spikelets a half-inch long and 3 lines thick or less ; scales 

 chestnut-colored, pale in the middle, with narrow hyaline margins, ovate, acute : 

 perigynium chestnut-colored in the middle, pale green on the sides, broadly ovate or 

 roundish, abruptly attenuate to a sharp minutely bidentate beak, with a long fissure 

 on the outer side, broadly wing-margined to the base, finely serrate on the indented 

 margins, compressed, wrinkled ami nerved, longer and broader than the scale : nut- 

 let (immature) oblong, lenticular. Olney, Proc. Amer. Acad. vii. 393. 



In the Sierra Nevada, in dry soil, at an altitude of from 5,000 to 11,000 feet, from Ebbett's 

 Pass to Lassen's Peak and Mount Shasta. The species is a very variable one, and ranges from 

 Arctic America to Pennsylvania, Texas and New Mexico. 



* * * Spikelets distinct. 

 * Spikelets male at top. 



23. C. vallicola, Dewey. Stem 6 to 12 inches high, very slender, slightly 

 scabrous : leaves half a line broad, shorter than the stem : bracts roughly cuspidate 

 from a broad hyaline-margined base, the lowest equalling or exceeding its spikelet ; 

 spike ^ to 1 inch long, linear-oblong, of from 4 to 7 narrowly oblong contiguous ses- 

 sile spikelets ; scales chestnut-colored, membranous, with very broad hyaline mar- 

 gins, clasping at base, broadly ovate, acute or the scabrous keel prolonged to a short 

 mucro : perigynium pale brown, obovate, abruptly attenuate to the base and to the 

 obliquely cut entire beak, the margins of the orifice white, convex on the outer side, 

 concave on the inner, nerveless, sparsely serrate above on the obtuse margins, about 

 as long as and narrower than the scale. Am. Journ. Sci. 2 ser. xxxii. 40. 



In sphagnous swamps near Mendocino City (Bolandcr, 4746 in part) ; Southeastern Idaho, 

 Hayden. 



24. C. tenella, Schk. Loosely tufted, stoloniferous : stem filiform, 5 to 20 

 inches high, scabrous above : leaves to f of a line broad, flat, about equalling the 

 stem : bracts ovate-lanceolate, more or less cuspidate or the lowest filiform, an inch 

 long or less : spike pale, linear-oblong, 8 to 14 lines long and a line thick, of 2 to 6 

 small round 2 6-flowered spikelets, the upper contiguous, the lower remote, the 

 male flowers (1 to 3) inconspicuous (the upper two spikelets rarely wholly male and 

 the lowest sometimes compound) ; scales hyaline with green midnerve, the male 

 lanceolate, acute, the female ovate, obtuse or acute or mucronate, pale ferruginous : 

 perigynium ellipsoidal or oblong, contracted at base, biconvex, obtuse, abruptly or 

 gradually narrowed to a minute entire beak, coriaceous, closely striate-nerved, dark 

 brown at maturity, longer than the scale : nutlet closely conformed to the peri- 

 gynium, oval, biconvex, ferruginous, shining : stamens 2 : base of style persistent. 



