SEDGE FAMILY. 



141. Carex leptalea Wahl. Bristle-stalked Sedge. (Fig. 811.) 





.V Ifptalea Wahl. Kongl. Vet. Acad. Handl (II ) 

 24: 139. 1803. 



< ;/ ; , r polytriclioid.es Willd.; Wahl. loc. cit. as nyno- 

 nym. 1803. 



Light green and glabrous, culms filiform, smooth, 

 erect or spreading, 6 / -i8 / long. Leaves not over 

 4 " wide, mostly shorter than the culm; spike soli- 

 tary, terminal, androgynous, narrowly linear, a"- 

 7" long, rather less than i" thick, staminate 

 above, pistillate below; perigynia few, linear-ob- 

 long, light green, many-nerved, narrowed at the 

 base, obtuse and beakless at the summit, about i%" 

 long and slightly more than l / 2 " thick; scales 

 membranous, the upper obtuse and shorter than 

 the perigynia, the lower acute, the lowest some- 

 times attenuated into a subulate awn nearly as 

 long as the spike; stigmas 2-3. 



In bogs and swamps, Newfoundland to British Co- 

 lumbia, south to Florida, Louisiana, Texas, Colorado 

 and Oregon. Ascends to 4300 ft. in North Carolina. 

 June-Aug. 



142. Carex filifolia Xutt. Thread-leaved Sedge. (Fig. 8; 



Carex filifolia Nutt. C^n. a: 304. i8l& 



Densely tufted, pale green and gUbrotu. culm* very 

 slender, smooth, erect, ;, ' 14' tall, equalling or loogrr 

 than the leaves. Leaves filiform, rather tiff. 

 l /{" wide, their sheaths persistent and 

 fibrillose; spike solitary, erect, bractkw. 

 above, pistillate below, 3"- 15" long, the pistillate 

 part about 2" in diameter; perigynia ohovoid-oral. 

 triangular, few-nerved or nearly nerveless, rough or 

 somewhat pubescent at the summit, i" loaf, rathrr 

 more than ft" thick, abruptly tipped by short cyl- 

 indric hyaline entire beak; scale* broadly oral, coo 

 cave with wide scarious margins, obtuse or cuspidate. 

 about as long as the perigynia !>ut much braadtr; 

 stigmas 3. 



In dry soil. Manitoba to British O.lurabia, soatk t 

 Nebraska, Colorado and California. Ma* 



143. Carex capitata L^. Capitate Sedge. 



(Fig. 813.) 



Carex capitata L. Sp. PI. Ed. 2, 1376. 1763. 



Culms very slender or filiform, stiff, strictly erect, 

 2 / -i8 / tall, smooth or very nearly so. Leaves filiform, 

 involute, erect, shorter than the culm; spike solitary, 

 terminal, ovoid, bractlcss, 2."-$." high, about 2" in 

 diameter, staminate above, pistillate below; perigynia 

 oblong-elliptic, ascending or nearly erect, light brown, 

 nerveless or very faintly few nerved, i" long, tf' f 

 thick, tipped with a nearly entire dark brown beak 

 about one-fourth as long as the body; scales broadly 

 ovate, membranous, brown, obtuse or acute, shorter 

 and rather broader than the perigynia; stigmas 2. 



Greenland and Labrador to the Northwest Territ 

 on the higher summits of the White Mountains of 

 Hampshire. Also in Europe. Summer. 



