CTPEUACE^. (sedge family.) 575 



base; scale acute, rather shorter than the pcrigyniutn ; acheninm olMvoid-pi/rtform, 

 obtusf'li/ tiiavguhtr. ( C. paniculata, var. teretiuscuhx, Wuld.) — Swamps, especially 

 nortlnvard. (Km.) 



Var. major, Koch. S])ikes more ]>;iiiicli'd ; jjcri-ynia rather nnrrower. 

 (C. Ehrhai'tiinia, I/oppp. C. jjrairiea, Za«'.) — bugs and low grounds, New 

 England to Wisconsin, and northward. (Kn.) 



14. C. decomposita, Mulil. Panicle large, with very numerous densely- 

 crowded spikes on the rather short spreading branches ; })cri(/i/nia ohomte, ttn- 

 cf/iKil/// biconvex, sessile, with a short veri/ uhrujit hettk, conspicuoiishf nerved on each 

 side, about the length of the ovate pointed scale. (C. paniculata, var. decom- 

 posita. Dew.) — Swamps, W. New York (Sartwell) to Pennsylvania, Illinois, 

 and southwestward. 



* * Perifji/iiia small, compressed, 2-3-ncrvcd, membranaceous, with a short 



2-toothed rough beak, yellow or brown at maturity : s/nLrs decompound, with 

 numerous small very deuselij-Jiowered heads: scales of the fertile spikes tawny, 

 with the green keel prolonged into a rough jioint : bracts sliort and resem- 

 bling them at the base, or often beconn'ng gi-een and bristle-sliapcd, and 

 much exceeding the culm. — Multifi.6rje. 



15. C. VUlpinoidea, Michx. Spike oblong and dense, or more or less 

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

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

 flora, Muhl. C. bractebsa and C. polymdrpha, Schw. C. microsjie'rma, IVuhl.) 

 — Varies with the perigynium narrower, and the beak tapering and more 

 strongly serrulate. (C. setiicea, Dew.) — Low meadows : everywhere common. 



* * * Perigipna on short stalks, plano-convex, without a margin, membranaceous, 



with a thick and sjioiKjy base and a long tapering 2-tootiied rough beak, dis- 

 tinctly nerved (only obscurely so in No. 19 and 20), widely spreading and 

 yellow at maturity : spikes dense, more or less aggregated, sometimes decom- 

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

 shaped, shorter than tlic thick and triangular culms. — Vulpine. 



16. C. erus-eorvi, Shuttleworth. Spike very large, decompound, the 

 lower branches long and distinct, the upper shorter and aggregated ; bracts oJ).en 

 2-toothed at the base ; perif^ynia. attenuated from an ovate dilated and truncate Ixisc into 

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

 (C. sica;fbrmis, Boott. C. Halei, Dew.) — Swamps, Oliio to Wisconsin, and 

 southwestward. — A conspicuous, very large species, with spikes 4' -9' long, 

 often somewhat paniculate, and glaucous Itavcs 6" wide. 



17. C. Stipata, Muhl. Spikes 10-15, aggregated, or the lower mostly 

 distinct and sometimes compound ; perigynia lanceolate, with a loug beak tapering 

 from a truncate baf^e, many-nerved, mwh errc(diiig the scale; style slightly tumid at 

 the base. (C. vulpinoidea, Torr., Cyp., not of Michx.) — Low grounds: com- 

 mon. — Culm flaccid : spikes pale. 



18. C. eonjuncta, Boott. Resembles the preceding; but the spikes 

 (6-12) more sim]j]e ; perigynia ovate from a snbiordale flat (not coiky-tuinid) 

 base, short-beaked, fewer-nerved, longer and broader than tiie jjointcd scale ; 

 style bulbous at the base. (C. vulpina of former editions; — from which it 



