CYPERACE^. (sedge FAMILY.) 589 



§ 4. Perigynia without a beak, smooth, not inflated, 3-angled, regularly striate, termi- 

 natiiK/ in a short, entire, ruther obli(/uely bent or recurved }>oint, remaining green at 

 maturity: pistillate scales ineinbranaceous, mostly tipped with a rough point 

 or awn, brown or spotted, fading- to while : staminute spike solitary : pisii/late 

 spikes 2-5, more or less remote, the lowest often near the base of the culm. 



« Sterile spike club-shaped : yi'rt//e s/i/te (erect, the uppermost commonly near 

 the base of the sterile) all on stalks principally included within sheatliiiig bracts, 

 except sometimes the lo\vest, and shorter than t/ie spikes or not much exceeiling 

 them: perigynia ovoid-triquetrous, narrowed at each end: culms numerous, 

 diffuse and in fruit becoming prostrate : leaves all radical, very braid, finely 

 and closely nerved throughout, with 3 distinct ribs. — PLAXTAGfi\E.ffi. 



84. C plantaginea, Lam. Fertde spikes commonly 4, oblong, about 5 - 8- 

 flowered ; bracts very short, dark purple, ov the lowest greenish. (C. latifolia, 

 Schk.) — Shady woods, mostly on hillsides in rich soil, New England to Penn., 

 Wisconsin, and northward ; and southward through the Allcghanies. 



85. C. Carey ^na, Torr. Fertile spikes 2-3, ovoid or oblong, about 3-5- 

 flowered; bracts green, the upper equal to the spikes, the lower somewhat 

 exceeding them; perigynia large (2" -2^" in length); leaves dark green. — In 

 similar situations witli the last, N. New York to Penn. and Ohio : rare. 



86. C. platyph^lla, Carey. Fertile spikes 3, flliform, loosely 3- 4flowered; 

 bracts as in the last; jierigynia small, culms slender; leaves pale or whitish-green. 

 — In similar situations with No. 84 ; and commoner southward. 



* * Sterile spike short, club-shaped, pedunculate: fertile spikes 2-4, all on flh- 



form exserted stalks, with long sheathing bracts resembling the leaves; the upper- 

 most, as well as the leaves, exceeding the slender and at length prostrate 

 culms : perigynia as in the last subsection. — DigitXles. 



87. C. retrociirva. Dew. Fertile spikes ovoid w oblong, compactly 3-8- 

 flowered, on lung druopiitg stalks, frequently with one or two staminate flowers at 

 their base ; leaves glaucous, 3-4 lines wide, with 3 prominent nerves. — Copses and 

 hillsides. New England to W. New York, Virginia, and southward. — Closely 

 approaching the next; perhaps only a variety of it. 



88. C. digitalis, Willd. Fertile spikes linear-oblong, loosely 6 - 'i flowered, on 

 long stalks, the lowest sometimes drooping ; leaves and bracts narrow, dark green ; 

 perigynia smaller than in the last. (C. oligocarpa, Schw. ^- Torr., not of Schk. 

 C. Vanvleckii, Schw.) — Copses and hillsides : not rare. — Slender, C - 12' high, 

 growing in tufts, with numerous culms and long grassy leaves. 



# * * Sterile spike linear, either conspicuously peduncled or smaller and nearly 



sessile in the same speiiics : fertile spikes 2-6, erect; the 1-2 uppermost 

 commonly near the base of the sterile, on an included stalk.; the re.st on 

 exserted stalks, with long sheathing bracts resentbling the leaves; the uiSpermost 

 exceeding the erect culm : perigynia with obtuse angles, about the length of 

 the scale. — OligocArp.e. 

 +- Perigynia distinctly nerved, and with a hyaline oriflce : style nearly even : scales 

 of the pistillate spikes awnless or barely awn-/ioint.ed. 



89. C. laxiflora, Lam. Fertile spikes slender and loosely several -many- 

 flowered on a zigzag rliacliis, cyliudrical, or sometimes rather dense and oblong; 



