330 



CYPERACEAE. 





ii4- Carex ptychocarpa Steud. Thicket 

 Sedge. (Fig. 784.) 



Carex ptychocarpa Steud. Syn. PI. Cyp. 234. 1855. 



Glabrous, pale green and glaucous, culms erect, 

 very slender, smooth, only 2 / -6 / tall. Leaves flat, 

 the basal 2 // -4 // wide, much longer than the culm; 

 bracts foliaceous, usually overtopping the spikes; 

 staminate spike small, sessile; pistillate spikes 2 or 

 3, sessile and close together at the summit or the 

 lower one slender-stalked and nearly basal, all 

 erect, loosely few-flowered, 4 // -8 // long; perigynia 

 oblong, pale, 3-angled, rather strongly many- 

 nerved, i" long, rather more than y^" thick, 

 pointed at both ends, minutely straight-beaked, 

 the orifice entire; scales ovate, thin, obtuse, about 

 one-half as long as the perigynia; stigmas 3. 



In moist woods and thickets, Massachusetts and New 

 Jersey to Florida and Louisiana. June-Sept. 



115. Carex platyphylla Carey. Broad-leaved Sedge. (Fig. 785.) 



Carex plantaginea Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 2: 173. 



1803. Not Lam. 1789. 

 Carex platyphylla Carey, Am. Journ. Sci. (II.) 4: 23. 



1847. 



Glabrous, pale green and glaucous, culms slen- 

 der, spreading or reclining, 4 / -i5 / long. Leaves 

 flat and broad, y 2 '-\ f wide, shorter than the culm; 

 bracts linear-lanceolate with long clasping sheaths, 

 \"-2%. ff wide, not overtopping the spikes, usually 

 less than 2' long; staminate spike stalked; pistil- 

 late spikes 2-4, distant, erect, all slender-stalked 

 or the upper one nearly sessile, loosely several- 

 flowered, 5 // -io // long f their stalks commonly en- 

 closed in the sheaths, perigynia oblong, 3-angled, 

 many-nerved, slightly bent at the narrowed sum- 

 mit, \"-\yz" long, rather more than y*" thick, 

 equalling or somewhat longer than the ovate-ob- 

 long acute cuspidate or short-awned scales; 

 stigmas 3. 



In woods and thickets, Quebec and Ontario to Michigan, south to Virginia and Illinois. Ascends 

 to 2500 ft. in Virginia. May-June. 



116. Carex panicea L,. Grass-like Sedge. Carnation-grass. (Fig. ; 



Carex panicea L. Sp. PI. 977. 1753. 



Glabrous, pale bluish green and glaucous, culms 

 slender, smooth, erect, stiff, i-2 tall. Leaves flat, 

 j//_ 2 // w id e , the basal ones shorter than or equalling 

 the culm, those of the culm and the bracts much shorter 

 and narrower; staminate spikes I or 2, stalked; pistil- 

 late spikes 2 or 3, distant, filiform-stalked or the upper 

 nearly sessile, erect, i' or less long, about 2> /r thick, 

 rather loosely several-many-flowered, the upper some- 

 times staminate at the summit; perigyuia oval, about 

 1 1 A" long and nearly \" in diameter, slightly swollen 

 and obscurely 3-angled, yellow, purple or mottled, 

 faintly few-nerved, tipped with a very short entire 

 somewhat oblique beak; scales ovate, acute, purple or 

 purple-margined, shorter than the perigynia; stigmas 3. 



In fields and meadows, Nova Scotia to Maine and Rhode 

 Island. Naturalized from Europe. June-July. 



