CTPKRACE^. (SKDGK FAMILY.) 585 



■t- Scales of lite spike deep-colored, purple or dark hrown. 



61. C. Buxbailmii, Walil. Spikes 3-4,obovoid or oblonij, (he uppprmost 

 short-stalked (rarely altogetlicr staminatc), tlte others ueurli/ sessile, the lowest 

 somewhat remote ; perigynia elliptical, obtusely triaiiji;ular, compressed, ob- 

 scurely nerved, with a distinctly notched orifice, scarcely equalling the ovate 

 sh.irp-pointed or short-awned (brown-purple) scale. (C. caue'scens, L., in part.) 

 — Pc.at-bo<;s : not rare. (Eu.) 



62. C. air^ta, L. Sjiikes ^ -a, ohhng-ovoid, approximate, all on short Jiliform 

 stalks, at lengtli droopinrj ; |ierigynia ovoid, with a short notched point, about the 

 length of the ovate acute or dark brown-purple scale. — Alpine summits of the 

 White Mountains, New Hampshire. — About 12'- 15' high, with rather rigid 

 leaves, nearly equalling the culm. Fruit at first pale straw-color, often becom- 

 ing dark purple or nearly black. Stigmas sometimes 2. (Eu.) 



63. C. alplna, Swartz. Spikes 3-4, swall, oral or ylohidar, croivded into a 

 head at the summit of the slender naked culm, nearly sessile, mostly overtopped 

 by a foliaccous bract ; periijipiia orbicular or obovate, pointed ivith a small short 

 biak, minutely notched at the orifice, roughish, longer than the ovate bluntish 

 black-purple scale. (C. Vahlii, Schk.) Tsie Royale, &c., Lake Superior, Prof. 

 Whitnci/, C. G. Loring, Jr., and northward. — Culms in ours l°-2° high, the 

 leaves all at the base: spikes 2" -4" long. (Eu.) 



-1- H— Scales and spikes greenish turning straw-color. 



64. C. Shorticina, Dew. Spikes 3-5, cylindrical, erect, more or less dis- 

 tant (V-li' long), and the lowest rather remote, «// androgynous and densely 

 jluweral ; the terminal one about half staminate, the rest with only a few barren 

 flowers at the base, the lower on short stalks ; perigynia broadly obovate, abruptly 

 contracted at the base into a short stalk, with an extremely minute entire jjoint, little 

 longer than the short-pointed somewhat obovate scale. — Marshes, S. Pennsyl- 

 vania to Illinois and southward. — Plant l°-.3° high : leaves flat, 3" wide. 



§2. Perigynia without a beak (except in 'No. G7, &c.), smooth, slightly inflated, 

 bluntly triangular, nerved, with an obtuse and pointless nriflce, or a short (and 

 straight or ol)lique) entire or notched point : bracts leaf-like, sheathing: stami- 

 nate .spike solitary (except sometimes in No. 71), or androgynous and pistillate 

 above ; the rest all fertile. 



* Staminate spike on an elevated stalk (rarely short-stalked or sessile, or with 1-2 

 small ones at its base) : pistillate spikes 1 -6, erect, the upper on very short, 

 the lower on more*or less elongated cxseited stalks (short and incliuled in 

 No. 73) : bracts shorter than the culm (except in No. 65 and 72) : perigynia 

 with an entire and slmight or obliquely bent point, glaucous-green when young, 

 becoming c xim-colored or yt-lluw at iiniturity, sometimes spotted with purple ; 

 pistillate scales dark-brown Avith white margins, fading to tawny. (Leaves 

 mostly radical, more or less glaucous.) — Pan/ce^. 



-r- Stigmas mosdy 2 : perigynium icholly pointless, turgid-obovnte. 



65. C. atirea, Nutt. Fertile spikes. 3-4, oblong, loosely flowered, the 

 lowest often Acry remote; perigynia pcai^aped, obtuse, longer than the ovate 

 acute scale ; achenium lenticular. (C. pyrifirmis, Srhiv.) — Wet grassy bank.s, 

 vspecially on limestone, W. New England to Wisconsin, and northward. — A 



