Carbx. CYPERACEiE. 405 



Leaves 2-3 lines wide, rather glaucous, smooth except a little roughness on the nnargin. 

 Sterile spike about three fourths of an inch long, sometimes bearing a few fertile flowers either 

 at the summit or in the middle ; the scales ovate-lanceolate, acute. Fertile spikes sometimes 

 4, three fourths of an inch long : upper one sessile ; the lower on elongated filiform peduncles. 

 Scales about one third shorter than the perigynia, ovate, acuminate and mucronate, whitish 

 with a pale green keel. Perigynium scarcely more than a line long, somewhat gibbous, 

 of a dull orange-yellow when mature. Achenium obovoid-triquetrous, dull, smooth. Style 

 continuous. 



Moist meadows : frequent. Fl. May. Fr. June. 



76. Carex laxiflora, Lam. Loose-Jhwered Sedge. 



Sterile spike solitary, nearly sessile ; fertile mostly 3, oblong, loosely flowered, remote, 

 pedunculate, erect ; perigynia ovoid-oblong, ventricose, obtuse, with the orifice nearly entire, 

 finely striate, shining, rather longer than the ovate cuspidate scale. — Lam. enc. 3. p. 378 ; 

 Schk. Car. t. Kkk. /. 141 ; Muhl. gram. p. 251 ; Ell. sk. 2. p. 549 ; Schwein. 4- Torr. 

 Car. I. c. p. 348 ; Dew. Car. I. c. 10. p. 31 (excl. syn. Michx.) ; Darlivgt. fl. Cest. p. 38 ; 

 Kunth, enum. 2. p. 457. C. grisea, Wahl. in act. Holm. 1803. p. 154 (fide Muhl.). 



Culm 12-18 inches high, erect, triquetrous, smooth. Leaves deep green, about 3 lines 

 wide, much taller than the culm. Sterile spike on a short peduncle, slender, scarcely over- 

 topping the uppermost fertile spike : scales lanceolate, acute, mucronate. Fertile spikes 

 sometimes 4 or even 5, three fourths of an inch long, 6 - 10-flowered ; the upper two often 

 approximated, and on short nearly included peduncles ; the lowest from one to four inches 

 distant, on a longer peduncle. Scales broadly ovate, whitish with a green keel, attenuated 

 above into a long rough cusp or short awn, which sometimes exceeds the perigynium in length. 

 Perigynium obscurely triangular, 2i lines long, green when ripe, obt'ise at the base ; the 

 orifice minute and indistinctly 2-toothed. Achenium obovoid-triquetrous, finely striate. Style 

 continuous. 



Meadows and moist woods : common. Fl. May. Fr. June. 



77. Carex conoidea, Schk. Conical-fruited Sedge. 

 Sterile spike on a rather long peduncle ; fertile spikes 2-3, cylindrical-oblong, remote, 



rather densely fruited, the upper one nearly sessile, the lower on a long peduncle ; perigynia 

 diverging, ovoid-oblong, nerved, somewhat gibbous and oblique at the summit, the orifice 

 entire, rather longer than the ovate cuspidate scale. — Schk. Car. 2. p. 67. t. Vvv. f. 168 ; 

 Dew. Car. I. c. 10. p. 47 ; Ell. sk. 2. p. 548 ; Torr. Cyp. p. 414. C. tetanica, Schwein. 

 4" Torr. Car. I. c. p. 347 ; Muhl. gram. p. 250, excl. syn. Schk. <^c. C. granularioides, 

 Schwein. anal. tab. I. c. ; Dew. I. c. 9. p. 262. t. A./. 4 ; Kunth, enum. 2. p. 453. 



Culm 8- 12 inches high, slender, triquetrous, rough on the angles. Leaves about two 

 lines wide, mostly shorter than the culm, bright green. Sterile spike half an inch long ; tiie 

 peduncle about the same length ; the scales oblong, rather obtuse. Fertile spikes hiilf an inch 



