CTPERACEA. (SEDGE FAMILY.) 527 



fliform, nodding stalks ; bracts exceeding the culm, with short or nearly obsolete 

 sheaths ; perigynia ovoid-triangular, very smooth and thin, with an entire or very 

 minutely notched orifice, longer than the ovate short-awned white scale. (C. 

 prasina, Wold.) Rills and wet meadows ; rather common. In aspect some- 

 what resembles the smaller short-awned forms of No. 51, with which it has points 

 of affinity, though differing materially in the 3 stigmas and triangular fruit. 



92. C. scabrata, Schw. Fertile spikes 4-5, cylindrical, erect, rather 

 distant, densely flowered, the lower on long stalks ; bracts without sheaths, exceed- 

 ing the culm ; perigynia ovoid, contracted at the base, prominently few-nerved, 

 rough, spreading at maturity, with an obliquely notched beak, longer than the 

 ovate slightly ciliate brown scale ; culm, leaves, and bracts very rough. Wet 

 meadows and swamps, New England to Penn., Michigan, and northward. 



93. C. SlllliVcB.lltii, Boott. Fertile spikes 3 - 5, commonly 4, narrowly cy 

 lindrical, erect, loosely flowered, the upper approximate, the lowest often remote, 

 tapering towards the base and slightly compound, all on rough stalks ; bracts 

 sheathing, not exceeding, the hairy culm ; perigynia elliptical, hairy, slightly 

 stalked, with an entire or notched orifice, rather longer than the ovate hairy- 

 fringed rough-aumed white scale. Woods, Columbus, Ohio, Sidlivant. About 

 2 high, with hairy leaves and bracts, and slender fertile spikes l'-l' long. 

 Resembles the next, but is at once distinguished by the erect spikes, hairy and 

 nerveless fruit, and hairy leaves. 



$ 8. Perigynia slightly inflated. 3-angled, smooth and shining, green, with a straight 

 tapering beak terminating in 2 small membranaceous teeth (nearly obsolete 

 in No. 96) : lower bracts green and sheathing : pistillate scales tawny, becom- 

 ing white : staminate spike solitaiy, stalked : pistillate spikes 3-4, loosely flow- 

 ered, all on long and filiform nodding stalks. 



# Fertile spikes long and slender, remote : perigynia few-nerved : bracts equalling or 



exceeding the culm. DEBILES. 



94. C arctataj Boott. Fertile spikes few-flowered and narrowed towards 

 the base ; perigynia ovoid-elliptical, triangular, short-stalked, rather blunt at the base, 

 the beak very short, longer than the pointed scale. (C. sylvatica, Dew., not of 

 Hudson. C. Knieskernii, Dew.) Woods and meadows, New England to Penn- 

 sylvania, and northward. 



95. C. debilis, Michx. Staminato spike occasionally fertile at the apex ; 

 fertile spikes with loose alternate flowers, on a somewhat zigzag rhachis ; perigynia ob- 

 long, tapering at each end, twice as long as the ovate-lanceolate awned scale. (C. 

 tenuis, Rudge. C. flexuosa, Muhl.) Moist meadows, N. New England to 

 Pennsylvania, and southwestward. 



# # Fertile spikes short : perigynia nerveless, or very obscurely nerved in No. 97 ; 



bracts erect, shorter than the culm. FLEXILES. 



96. C capilliiris, L. Fertile spikes commonly 3, minute, with about 6 alter- 

 nate flowers; perigynia oblong-ovoid, contracted at the base, tapering into a long slight- 

 ly serrulate beak, with an oblique nearly entire orifice, longer than the ovate scale. 

 Point de Tour, Lake Michigan; alpine summits of the White Mountains, 

 New Hampshire, and high northward. An extremely delicate species, 4' -6' 

 high,, with spikes '-' longj and a line or less iu width. (Eu.) 



