324 



Pale Sedge. (Fig. 768.) 



CYPERACEAE. 

 97. Carex viridula Michx. Green Sedge. (Fig. 767.) 



Carex z'iridula Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 2: 170. 1803. 



Carex flava var. viridula Baile}-, Mem. Torr. Club, i: 31. 

 1889. 



Glabrous, bright green, culms slender, smooth, erect, 

 4 / -i5 / tall, often exceeded by the erect narrow basal 

 leaves. Leaves i" or less wide, the bracts similar us- 

 ually strictly erect and much overtopping the spikes; 

 staminate spike sessile, sometimes pistillate at the top; 

 pistillate spikes 2-5, all close together and sessile or the 

 lower distant and short-stalked, oblong-cylindric or ob- 

 long, 2 // -6 // long, 2" or less in diameter; perigynia 

 ovoid-oblong, \" or less long, strongly few-nerved, nar- 

 rowed at the base, tapering into a 2-toothed beak about 

 one-half as long as the body; scales ovate, shorter than 

 the perigynia and about as wide; stigmas 3. 



In bogs and on wet rocks, Newfoundland to Hudson Bay 

 and the Northwest Territory, south to Maine, Pennsylvania, 

 Minnesota, Utah and Washington. Summer. 

 Carex fulva Gooden., a species of this group, was found many years ago at Tewksbury. Mass., 

 evidently a waif from Europe, and is reported from Newfoundland. 



Carex distans L-, a related species, has been collected on ballast at Philadelphia. 



98. Carex pallescens L,. 



Carex pallescens L. Sp. PI. 977- 1753- 



Light green, culms slender, erect, rough above, 

 4 / -2o / tall. Leaves flat, i // -i>^ // wide, pubescent at 

 least on the sheaths, shorter than the culm; lower 

 bract similar to the culm-leaves, erect or nearly so 

 and exceeding the spikes; staminate spikes solitary, 

 stalked; pistillate spikes 2-4, oblong, erect or some- 

 what speading, slender stalked or the upper one ses- 

 sile, densely many-flowered, 4 // ~9 // long, 2 /x - 

 ly-i" in diameter usually clustered; perigynia short- 

 oblong, pale, i" long, Y?." thick, obtuse, thin, faintly 

 few-nerved, beakless, the orifice entire; scales ovate, 

 membranous, cuspidate or short-awned, equalling or 

 the upper shorter than the perigynia; stigmas 3. 



In fields and meadows, Nova Scotia to western On- 

 tario, south to Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Illinois and 

 Wisconsin. Ascends to 3500 ft. in Vermont. Also in 

 Europe. May-July. 



99. Carex abbreviata Prescott. Torrey's Sedge. (Fig. 769.) 



Carex Tbrr^j/* Tuckerm. Enum. Meth. 21. 1843. Not 

 C. Torreyana Schwein. 1824. 



Carex abbreviata Prescott; Boott, Trans. Linn. Soc. 

 20: 141. 1846. 



Pale green, culms slender, rather stiff, erect, ic/- 

 20' tall, finely ciliate-pubescent. Leaves about i" 

 wide, erect, elongated but shorter than the culm, 

 finely and usually densely pubescent; lower bract 

 %'-2 f long, spreading or ascending, pubescent; 

 staminate spike solitary, short -stalked; pistillate 

 spikes 1-3, short oblong, dense, 3 // -5 // long, about 

 3" thick, sessile or the lower one short stalked, 

 erect, clustered; perigynia broadly oblong or ob- 

 ovoid, glabrous, about i" long and more than ';" 

 thick, strongly many-nerved, obtuse, abruptly 

 tipped by a short cylindric beak, scales cuspi- 

 date, shorter than the perigynia; stigmas 3. . 



In dry soil, New York to the Northwest Territory, 

 south in the Rocky Mountains to Colorado. June-July. 



