512 CYrr.i?ACEJE. (SEDGE FAMILY.) 



1C. C. Vll I pi no i flea, Michx. Spike oblong and dense, or more or less 

 interrupted, of 8-10 crowded clusters (l'-2' long); perigynia ovate from a 

 broad base, with a more or less abrupt beak, diverging at maturity (C. multi- 

 flora, MnlJ. C. bracteosa and C. polymorpha, ScJtw. C. microsperma, Wald ) 



Varies with the perigynium narrower, and the beak tapering arid more strongly 

 serrulate. (C. setacea, Dew.) Low meadows; very common. Varies ex- 

 ceedingly in the size and shape of the perigynium and beak. 



* * * Perigynia on short stalks, plano-convex, without a margin, mcmbranaceous, 

 with a thick ami spongy base and a long tapering 2-toothed rough beak, distinct- 

 ly nerved (only obscurely so in No. 20 and 21), widely spreading and yellow at 

 maturity : spikes dense, more or less aggregated, sometimes decompound : 

 scales of the fertile spikes tawny, with a sharp point : bracts bristle-shaped, 

 shorter than the thick and triangular culms. VULP!N^E. 



17. C. crus-c6rvi, Slmttleworth. Spike very large, decompound, the 

 lower brandies long and distinct, the upper shorter and aggregated ; bracts often 

 2-toot/ted at the base; perigynia attenuated from an ovate dilated and truncate btise into 

 a very long slightly-winged beak, much exceeding the scale ; style tumid at the base. 

 (C. sicaeformis, Boott. C. Halei, Dew.) Swamps, Ohio to Wisconsin, and 

 southward. A conspicuous, very large species, with spikes 4' -9' long, often 

 somewhat paniculate, and glaucous leaves $' wide. 



18. Stipata, Muhl. Spikes 10-15, aggregated, or the lower ones dis- 

 tinct and sometimes compound ; perigynia lanceolate, with a long beak tapering 

 from a truncate base, much exceeding the scale; style not tumid at the base. (C. vul- 

 pinoidea, Torr., Cyp., not of Michx.) Swamps and low grounds; common. 



19. C. Ylilpiiia, L. Spikes numerous, aggregated into a cylindrical and 

 dense (or at times elongated and somewhat interrupted) compound spike; peri- 

 gynia compressed, tapering from a broadly-ovate base into a beak not much longer than 

 the scale; achenium oval; style tumid at the base. Ohio, Illinois, and Kentucky. 



A tall, robust species, 3 -4 high, with wide leaves and a remarkably thick 

 rough culm. It is very like the last, from which it chiefly differs in the more 

 compressed and wider base and shorter beaks of the perigynia. The forma 

 with interrupted spikes have also a general resemblance to No. 22 ; which, how- 

 ever, is distinguished by the margined and nerveless perigynia. (Eu.) 



20. C. alopecoidea, Tuckerman. Head of 8-10 aggregated spikes, 

 oblong, dense ; perigynia compressed, very obscurely nerved, ovate from a broad trun- 

 cate or somewhat heart-shaped base, a little longer than the scale ; acheniun, iyri- 

 form; base of the style not tumid. (C. ccphalophora, var. maxima, D<w.)~ 

 Woods, W. New York to Penn., Michigan, &c. Much resembling the last, 

 but smaller, with shorter and more compact spikes ; easily distinguished by the 

 nearly nerveless perigynia, and the different achenium and style. 



21. C. muricfita, L. Spikes 4-6, ovoid, approximate but distinct, the 

 lowermost sometimes a little remote ; perigynia ovate-lanceolate, somewhat com- 

 pressed, nerveless, or very obscurely nerved towards the base, rather longer than the 

 scale; at;h< u'nnn ovule, b:i>r of the style not tumid. Fields, Massachusetts (in- 

 troduced?), Ohio, and Kentucky; rare. Spikes imtlv looser than in the last, 

 tie perigynia narrower, with a longer and more tapering brak. (Eu.) 



