230 



CYrERACE.E. ' Carex. 



§ 2. Spikes composed of sessUe aiuh'ofjijnoas spikckts, rarehj diwcious : stlfjmas2. 



* Spikes dioecious, or the spihelets androgynous with the nude and female Jlowers 

 irretjularlij situated. 



5. C. bromoides, Schk. Stems densely tuftetl, 1 to 2| feet high, very slender, 

 often decumbent, sliaqjly angled, scabrous : leaves tlat, grass-like, 1 to U lines broad, 

 shorter than the stems : bracts scale-like, the lowest clasping, setaceous, sometimes 

 longer than their spikelets : spikes pale, becoming ferruginous, linear or narrowly 

 oblong, -an inch or two long, of from 4 to 8 elli})soidal loosely-Howered spikelets, con- 

 tiguous or the lowest somewhat remote, male or female or androgynous (male at top 

 or at bottom), 3 to 7 lines long by 2 lines thick, the terminal one the largest ; 

 scales membranous, hyaline, white with green midnerves, becoming ferruginous, 

 ovate-lanceolate, acute or cuspidate : perigynium membranous, linear-lanceolate, at- 

 tenuate to a long obli(iuely cut entire or biileiitate beak, spongy at base, plano-con- 

 vex, scabrous on the sharp margins, nerved, with a long hssure on the outer side, 

 longer than and as broad as the scale : nutlet closely invested by the perigynium, 

 oblong-ovate, obtuse, narrowed at base, lenticular, chestnut-colored, shining : style 

 enlarged at base, deciduous. — Car. tig. 176 ; lioott, 1. c. ii. 82, t. 227. 



In the Calaveras (Jrove (Bohnidcr, n. 2315) ; in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, atitl last- 

 waril IVom Hritish AiultIcii to Florida. 



6. C. Siccata, Dewey. IJootstock crcej)ing extensively, clotlied with short lance- 

 olate scales and l)eaiing slender sharply angled stems J, to 2 inches apart and i to 2 

 feet high ; leaves rather rigid, i to 2 lines broad : bracts scale-like, the lowest 

 roughly cuspidate, mostly shorter than the spikelt;ts : spikes oblong, f to 2 inches 

 long by 2 to 4 lines thick, ferruginous, of fn)m 4 to 12 ovoid alternate simple spike- 

 lets 2 to 8 lines long by 1 to 4 thick, crowded or the lower subremote, the ter- 

 minal female or female at base and the intermediate ones male, or the male and female 

 flowers variously mingled; scales membranous, ovate-lanceolate, acute, ferruginous, 

 with broad hyaline n)argins : iierigynium membranous, oval or ovate, acuminate to a 

 long sharply bidentate beak, hssured on the outer side, unequally serrate on the 

 winged margins, plano-convex, nerved, about ecjualling the scale : nutlet oblong, 

 plano-convex, dark chestnut, shining. — Am. Journ. Sci. x. 278; Loott, 1. c, i. ID, 

 t. 52, 14G. C. pallida, ]\leyer, Cyp. Nov. 215, t. 8. 



In dry soil, in the Sacramento Valley (Ilarltccij, n. 2023) and near Mark West Creek (Hk/clow), 

 and in the Sierra Nevada northward to the Columbia Itiver, in the llocky Mountains iVoiu Hiitish 

 Anieiica to Colorado, and in the northern Atlantic Statea ; also in northeastern Asia. 



7. C. disticha, Hudson. Rootstock creeping, clothed with lanceolate brown 

 scales: stems 1 to 3 J feet high, scabrous above on the sharp angles : leaves a line or 

 two broad, mostly shorter than the stem : ])racts cuspidate fmm a lanceolate base, 

 the lower prolonged beyond their spikelets, the lowest sometimes e(iualling the stem : 

 spike ferruginous, 1 to 3 inches long by 3 to 8 lines thick, oblong, lanceolate or 

 linear, obtuse, of numerous ellijjsoidal or ovoid or sul)s})herical spikelets, contiguous 

 or the lower distinct; arrangement of the llowers Vfuy variable, the upper and mid- 

 dle spikelets being frecjuently almost wholly staminate and the lower jtrinciiJully 

 or entirely female, or rarely all entirely fen)ale or male at to[) ; scales lerruginous 

 with hyaiine margins, nuMubranous, ovate, acute : iierigynium ovate or oval, grad- 

 tially tapering to ii ruther short ()bli(|uely cut entire (at ](;nglli bidenticulate) beak, 

 long-lissured on the outer side, sti|)itate, plano-convex, nerved, punctate, serrate above 

 on the sharp or narrowly winged margins, about equalling the scale : nutlet loosely 

 invested by the perigynium, ovate or orbicular, lenticular, chestnut-colored, shining. 

 — Boott, 111. iii. 125, t. 410. C. intermedia, Good.; lieichenb. 1. c, t. 210. 

 C. Sartwellil, Dewey, Am. Journ. Sci. xliii. 90. 



Collected hy Bvhnulcr, but locality uncertain, and near Carson City (Stretch, Watsmi) ■ from 

 the Saskatchewan to the northern Atlantic Slates, and in the llocky Mountains southward to 

 Colorado and Utah ; also through Eurojie and northern Abia. 



