238 CYPERACE^E. Carex. 



32. C. cristata, Schwein. Cespitose : stem 2 to 2J feet high, sharply angled, 

 scabrous : leaves 1 to 3 lines wide, attenuate at the apex, their sheaths sharply tri- 

 angular, loose : bracts scale-like or the lowest foliaceous and exceeding the stem : 

 spike oblong or cylindrical, 1 to 1 inches long and 4 to 6 lines thick, of 8 to 1 2 or more 

 closely aggregated globular spikelets; scales membranous, lanceolate, obtuse : peri- 

 gy mum oval or ovate, rostrate, bidenticulate, narrowly winged, ciliate-serrate on the 

 sharp margins, spreading or recurved, much longer than the scale : nutlet round- 

 oval, lenticular, ferruginous : style slightly thickened at base. Cyp. 1. c. 315, t. 25, 

 fig. 1 ; Boott, 111. iii. 117, t. 372, 373. 



Var. mirabilis ? Less rigid : spike looser and spikelets less spreading : perigyn- 

 ium longer beaked : scales pale chestnut, acute. Boott, 1. c., t. 374. C. mirabilis, 

 Dewey, Am. Journ. Sci. xxx. 63. 



In the Yosemite Valley and from Santa Rosa to Ukiah, Bolandcr, n. 1642, 3864, 6216. The 

 typical form of the species ranges from Arctic America to the northern Atlantic States and Ore- 

 gon ; the variety from New England to Ohio, and has also been collected on the Columbia Rivt-r. 



33. C. adusta, Boott. Cespitose : stem 1 or 2 feet high, obtusely angled, often 

 inclined at top : leaves flat, a line or two broad, shorter than the stem : bracts with- 

 out sheaths, the lower foliaceous, the upper scale-like : spike oblong, of 4 to 10 cla- 

 vate or roundish pale or straw-colored spikelets, the lower more or less remote and 

 occasionally compound ; scales membranous, white or ferruginous or straw-colored, 

 lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, acute : perigynium ovate, oval or orbicular, gradually 

 rostrate, bidentate, the upper margins narrowly winged and serrate, the lower obtuse, 

 turgid on the outer face, flat on the inner, strongly many-nerved, about equalling 

 the scale : nutlet suborbicular, biconvex, sessile, chestnut-colored. Hook. Fl. Bor.- 

 Am. ii. 215, and 111. iii. 119, t. 379-383. C. argyrantha, Tuckerman ; Dewey, 

 1. c. 2 ser. xxix. 346, a delicate form. 



Var. congesta. Spikelets of a light fulvous color, 6 to 8, crowded in an ovate 

 or oblong head : perigynium with longitudinal furrows, which conceal the nerves. 



In the Sierra Nevada, at the Calaveras and Mariposa Groves and at Westfall's meadows {Bo- 

 lander) ; the variety mostly at higher altitudes, from Silver Valley and Lassen's Peak (Brewer, 

 n. 1977, 21 78), and also from Calaveras Grove, Hillcbrand, n. 2310. The species ranges from 

 Greenland and Arctic America to Pennsylvania, the Rocky Mountains of British America, and 

 Oregon. 



3. Uppermost spikelet androgynous, male at base ; the rest female : stigmas 3. 



34. C. Buxbaumii, Wahl. Stoloniferous : stem 1 to 2 feet high, scabrous 

 above .on the sharp angles : leaves firm, a line or two broad, shorter than the stem, 

 the lower surface densely punctate and the purple sheaths fibrous-reticulate : bracts 

 clasping without sheaths, the lowest rarely exceeding the stem : spike of from 3 to 

 5 erect purple and glaucous spikelets, f to 2 inches long and 2 to 4 lines thick, the 

 uppermost obovoid or club-shaped, male at bottom or rarely at both top and bottom, 

 or entirely male and cylindrical, the rest female, oblong or oblong-cylindrical, densely 

 flowered, contiguous and sessile or the lowest 1 to 3 inches distant on a short 

 peduncle; scales purple, pale in the middle, oblong or ovate-lanceolate, acute or 

 acuminate or cuspidate, the cusp mostly smooth : perigynium glaucous, ellipsoidal, 

 ventricose, unequally 3-angled below, very short-beaked with the orifice emarginate 

 or rarely entire, granular, smooth on the margins, more or less prominently nerved, 

 broader and shorter than the scale : nutlet obovoid-triangular, much shorter than the 

 perigynium, chestnut-colored. Fl. Dan. t. 1406; Reichenb. 1. c., t. 235; Boott, 

 111. iv. 136, t. 438, 439. 



At Soda Springs on the Tuolumne, at 9,700 feet altitude (Bolander, n. 5056); ranging from 

 Sitka and British America to Georgia, and in the Rocky Mountains to Colorado ; also in Europe, 

 Asia and Australia. 



35. C. bifida, Boott, ined. Stem 2 or 3 feet high, acutely angled, slightly 

 scabrous at top : leaves pale, 2 lines broad, shorter than the stem, the lower surface 



