CTPERACE^E. (SEDGE FAMILY.) 491 





TBJBS VI CARICEjE. Flowers monoscious in the same (androgynous) or in separate 

 spikes, or sometimes dioecious. Proper perianth none. Acheuium enclosed in a sac 

 (perigynium which answers to a bractlet or pair of bractlets), lenticular or triangular. 



16. CAREX. Fertile flowers without a bristle-form, hooked appendage projecting from, the sac. 



1 CYPEKUS, L. GAUKGALE. 



Spikes many - few-flowered, flat or rarely terete, variously arranged, mostly 

 in clusters or heads, which are commonly disposed in a simple or compound 

 terminal umbel. Scales 2-ranked (their decurrent base often forming margins or 

 wings to the joint of the axis next below), deciduous when old. Stamens (1, 

 2, or mostly) 3. Perianth none. Style 2 -3-clcft, deciduous. Achenium len- 

 ticular or triangular, naked at the apex. Culms triangular, simple, leafy at 

 the base, and with one or more leaves at the summit forming an involucre to the 

 umbel. Peduncles unequal, sheathed at the base. (Kvympos, the ancient 

 name.) 



1. PYCREUS, Bcauv. Style 2-clefl: achenium flattened : spikes flat, many- 

 flowered : only the lowest scale empty. (Root of all our species flbrous and appar- 

 endy annual.) 



1. C. IBavcSCens, L. Stamens 3; spikes becoming linear, obtuse, clus- 

 tered at the end of the 2-4 very short rays (peduncles) ; scales obtuse, straw- 

 yellow ; achenium shining, orbicular. Low grounds, mostly near the coast. 

 Aug. Culms 4' -10' high: spikes 5" -8" long. Involucre 3-leaved, very 

 unequal. (Eu.) 



2. C. diicildnis, Torr. Stamens 2, or sometimes 3 ; spikes lance-oblong, 

 scattered or clustered on the 2-5 very short or unequal rays ; scales rathe)' obtuse, 

 purple-brown on the margins or nearly all over; achenium dull, oblony-obovate: 

 otherwise much like the last. Var. CASXANEUS, Torr. (C. castaneus, Bigel.} 

 is only a form with browner scales. Low grounds; common. Aug., Sept. 



3. C. Nuttiillii, Torr. Stamens 2 ; spikes lance-linear, acute, very flat 

 (;}'-!' long), crowded on the few very short (or some of them distinct) rays; 

 scales oblong, yellowish-brown, rather loose ; achenium oblong-obovate, very blunt, dull. 



Salt or brackish marshes, Massachusetts to Virginia, and southward. Aug. 



Culms 4' -12' high. C. minimus 7 Nutt., the C. Cleaveri, Torr., fr ed. 1, is 

 a depauperate condition of this, with a 1-leaved involucre, and only one or two 

 spikes ! 



4. C. flavfconillS, Michx. Stamens 3 ; spikes linear (4" - 8' long), 

 spiked and crowded on the whole length of the branches of the several-rayed 

 umbel, spreading ; scales oval, very obtuse, yellowish and brownish, broadly scarious- 

 (whitish-} margined; achenium olwvate, mucronate, blackish; culm stout (l-3 

 high); leaves of the involucre 3 - 5, very long. Low grounds, Virginia and 

 southward. July - Oct. 



t 2. PAPYRUS, Thonars. Style 3-cleft : achenium triangular : stamens 3 : 

 spikes man i/ -flowered, flattish joints of the axis margined by a pair of more or 

 leas free scales, which remain after the proper scale falls away : otherwise as in 3. 



