Carex. CYPERACEJE. 245 



53. C. laxiflora, Lam., var. plantaginea, Boott. Cespitose : stem 12 to 18 

 inches high, slender, sharply angled : radical leaves 6 to 18 inches long, 5 to 7 lines 

 broad, the cauline and lower bracts 3 or 4 lines broad, shorter than the stem, the 

 sheath of the latter 1 to 2^ inches long : spikes 4 or 5, pale, cylindrical, an inch 

 long or more, the male single, the female loosely flowered, 1 or 2 lines thick, the 

 upper contiguous on enclosed peduncles, the rest remote and the lowest sometimes 

 radical on long exserted peduncles ; scales hyaline with green midnerve, ovate, ob- 

 tuse or acute or cuspidate : perigynium ellipsoidal, acute at each end, obtusely 

 angled, erect or curving outwards at top, with entire hyaline orifice, many-nerved, 

 longer or shorter than the scale : nutlet chestnut-colored, obovoid, 3-angled, punc- 

 tate. 111. i. 37. C. plantaginea, Schk. Car. tig. 195, not Lain. 



Mendocino County (Bofander, n. 4747); Washington Territory (Lyall), and in the Atlantic 

 States. The species is frequent eastward, under numerous forms, from Canada to Florida and 

 Texas. 



54. C. podocarpa, R. Br. Stoloniferous : stem 1 to 2| feet high, slightly 

 scabrous above and often eerimous : leaves 1 to 3 lines broad, snorter than the stem, 

 the upper the longest : bracts foliaceous, without sheaths, the lowest and sometimes 

 the lower two equalling or exceeding the stem ; auricles purple, oblong, rarely 

 clasping and sheath-like : spikes 3 to 6, ellipsoidal, oblong-cylindrical or clavate, | 

 to 1 inch long, 3 lines thick, the male single (rarely 2), the female (the upper one 

 sometimes male at top) approximate, sessile or shortly peduucled, or all remote 

 and more or less peduncled and the lowest pendulous on a long smooth subradical 

 peduncle 6 or 7 inches long ; scales purple, oblong or lanceolate, sometimes unequally 

 emarginate, acute or roughly awned : perigynium blotched with purple, oval or 

 ovate, gradually or abruptly ending in a minutely bidentate orifice or cylindrical 

 beak, compressed above, triangular below, obscurely nerved excepting the two in- 

 tramarginal veins, equalling or shorter than the scale : nutlet loosely inclosed in 

 and much smaller than the perigynium, obovoid-triangular or lenticular, stipitate, 

 olive-colored : stigmas 3 or 2. Hook. Fl. Bor.-Am. ii. 224, t. 224, and 111. iv. 197. 

 C. mawochceta, Meyer, Car. Nov. 224, t. 13. C. spedabilis, Dewey, 1. c. xxix. 

 248, t. 10, fig. 76. 



In the Sierra Nevada, from the head of Kern River (Rothrock, n. 302) and northward, to 

 Alaska ; also in northeastern Asia. Very variable in the dimensions, form and position of the 

 spikes and in the length of the beak. In one Californian specimen (Ercwer, u. 1773") the stig- 

 mas are 4 or 5, in another (Brewer, n. 2319) the perigynia are staminiferous. 



55. C. Raynoldsii, Dewey. Stoloniferous : stem 1 to 3 feet high, sharply 

 angled : leaves glaucous, 3 or 4 lines broad, flat with revolute margins, rather ab- 

 ruptly tapering to a triangular apex, shorter than the stem : bracts without sheaths, 

 foliaceous, the lowest about equalling the stem ; auricles purple, round or oblong : 

 spikes 3 to 6, oblong or obovoid, the male single, 4 to 9 lines long, sessile, the female 

 6 to 8 lines long and 3 or 4 thick, sessile or short-peduncled, contiguous or the 

 lowest 2 to 2 1 inches distant on a peduncle 1 to 1 inches long, occasionally com- 

 pound at base, the upper often staminate at top ; scales purple, or pale in the mid- 

 dle and on the margins, oblong or ovate, acute or acuminate : perigynium divergent 

 and deciduous, pale yellow, obovoid, ventricose, obtusely 3-angled, abruptly rostel- 

 late with a purple emarginate beak, nerved, longer and broader than the scale : 

 nutlet triangular-obovoid, the sides concave below, olive-colored. Am. Journ. Sci. 

 2 ser. xxxii. 39. 



In the Sierra Nevada, at 8,000 to 12,000 feet altitude, from Mount Dana to Silver Valley ; also 

 in Washington Territory (Lyall), and from Wyoming Territory to Northern Utah. 



56. C. serratodens. Stem 1 to 1| feet high, smooth: leaves 1^ lines broad, 

 shorter than the stem ; lower sheaths sparingly fibrous-reticulate : bracts foliaceous, 

 clasping, narrow, the lowest exceeding the stem and the next its spikelet ; auricles 

 oblong, purple, separated or united : spikes 3 or 4, the male single, clavate, 1 to 1 



