252 CYPERACE.*;. Carex. 



76. C. vesicaria, Linn. Rootstock creeping : stem 1 to 3^ feet liigli, sliavply 

 angled, scabious : leaves 2 or 3 lines broad, the upper exceeding the stem ; slieaths 

 tibrous-reticulate : bracts exceeding the stem, the lowest rarely with slieaths 2 to 9 

 lines long: spikes 3 to 8, the male 2 or 3, contiguous, 1 to 1| inches long and 

 1 to li lines thick, the lowest setaceously bracted ; female spikes 2 or 3, rarely 4, 

 an incii or two long, 4 to G lines thick, oblong or cylindrical, a))proximato and 

 densely llowered or the lowest remote and loosely llowered at base, the upper sessile, 

 the lower on nodding peduncles \ to li inches long; scales membranous, purjjle, 

 l>ale in the middle with hyaline margins, the male linear-oblong, broadest near the 

 top, acute, the female ovate or lanceolate, acute or acuminate, not awned : perigyn- 

 ium straw-colored, ovoid-conical or subglobose ovoid, obtusely angled, gradually 

 tapering to an obliipiely cut bidentate beak, glabrous, shining, nerved, ascending, 

 longer and broader than the scale : nutlet chestnut-colored, triangular-obovoid, punc- 

 tate : style contorted. — 8chk. (Jar. tig. lOG. 



Var. p, Boott. Leaves and bracts much longer : perigynium conical, the beak 

 very long and teeth minute : scales ciliale at top. — 111. iv. 102, t. 537. 



Var. y. Leaves and bracts much exceeding the stem : male spikes 2, rarely 3, 



1 to If inches long, the female 1 to 3, | to 1^ inches long, the lowest short-pedun- 

 cled ; scales purple, broadly hyaline on the upper margins and at the summit, obtuse, 

 the female ovate : perigynium purplish at top, broadly ovoiil, abruptly conti-acted to 

 a longer or shorter minutely bidentate beak, the length of the scale : stigmas very 

 rarely 2. 



The tyjiical form, of Europe and Kamtschatka, rarely found in North America, has been col- 

 lected in the Yosemite Valley (Brewer, n. 1654 ; Bolandcr, n. 6200), and in Oregon. The first 

 variety, found by Lyall on Saturna Island, Britisli Columbia, occurs also at Tomales Bay 

 (Bola'iukr, n. 2303) ; and the .second at Soda Springs on the Tuolumne, Brewer, n. 1781. 



77. C. utriculata, Boott. Stoloniferous, glaucous : stem stout, spongy at base, 



2 to 3 ieet high or mure, smooth below the si)ikes : leaves closely nodose-reticulated, 

 2 to G lines bu)ad, much excelling the stem, carinate, the margins recurved : bracts 

 much longer than the stem, the lowest sometimes with sheaths | to 1 inch long : 

 male spikes 2 to f), linear, 1 to 4i indies long and a line thick, often female at top, 

 the lowest bracted; the female 2 to G, cylindrical, obtuse, \ to 7i inches long and 

 4 to 8 lines thick, approximate or remote, the upper sessile, often cons])icuously male 

 above and rarely at bottom, densely llowered, the lowest peduncled, often attenuate 

 and loosely flowered at base, sometimes compound ; peduncles 8 lines to 10 inches 

 long; scales membranous, pur[)le, pale in the middle with hyaline margins, oblong 

 or lanceolate, acute or roughly awned : perigynium straw-colored, shining, smooth, 

 ellipsoidal, ovoid or globose-ovoid, inflated, gradually or more or less abruptly con- 

 tracted to a cylindrical bicuspidate beak, spreading or squarrose, nerved, broader and 

 mostly longer than the scale : nutlet triangular-obovoid, olive-colored : style con- 

 torted. — Hook. Fl. Bor.-Am. ii. 221, and 111. i. 14, t. 39. 



In the Sierra Nevada, freiiuent, from Fresno ("ounty noitliwanl ; eastward, from subarctic 

 British America to the noitliern Atlantic States, Colnniiio and lUah. i5oeckeler (Liiiiuva, xli. 

 318) refers to this species C. lau-irosiris. Fries (Knnze, Suppl. 1. 194; t. 49), of noithein 

 Europe and Siberia, wliich is similar in most of its (liaracters, but the bra(;ts are described and 

 tiguied as about equalling the stem, and the scales as acute and not as awned. 



78. C. pseudocyperus, Linn., var. comosa, Boott. Stem 1| to 2^ feet high, 

 stout, very scabrous on the sharp angles: leaves rigid, nodose, 2^ to 5 lines broad, 

 tapering to a long slender triangular apex, the up[)er exceeding the slem : brads nf 

 the female spikes much excectling the stem, the lowest sometimes Avith a sheath 

 1 to 3i inches long, usually sheathless : sjiikes 4 to 0, densely flowered, the upper- 

 most male, linear, 1 to 3.^, inches long, often female at top or sotnetimes almost 

 wholly so ; female spikes 1^ to 3 inches long and 4 to 7 lines thick, stout, cylindri- 

 cal, rarely male at top and compound at l)ottom, drooping or ))endulous, a])])roximato 

 or the lowest remote ; peduncles 2 to 18 lines long, or the lowest 4 to 10 inches ; 



