396 CYPERACE^E. (SEDGE FAMILY.) 



rough beak about as long as the body, nerved or almost nerveless, longer and 

 broader than the acute or somewhat obtuse brown scale. On grassy mountain- 

 sides and alpine summits throughout. A variable and widely distributed 

 species. Through its looser forms it approaches No. 84. (N. Eu.) 



Var. Haydeniana, W. Boott. Low (4 to 8 inches high) : head very dense 

 and dark : perigijnium tawny : bracts cuspidate. C. Haydeniana, Olney. Uinta 

 Mountains, Eastern Utah (Hat/den). 



80. C. athrostachya, Olney. Differs from the last in the presence of 

 elongated bracts which are expanded and strongly nerved at the base, the two or 

 three lower much exceeding the mostly paler head : lowest spike rarely distinct. 

 Colorado ( Vasey) and Upper Flathead River Valley, Montana ( W. M. 

 Canby.) 



H- -i- Spikes mostly separated, or if aggregated the individual spikes well de- 

 fined. 



++ Perigynium thin and scale-like, with little distinction between the margin and 

 the body, mostly greenish. 



81. C. lagopodioides, Schk. Culm stout and leafy, 1$ to 3 feet high, 

 sharply angled, rough above: sheaths of the leaves dilated: spike 7 to 15 or 

 more, mostly large, compactly flowered, mostly obovoid, not pointed, disposed in a 

 loose and heavy long greenish or straw-colored head : bracts filiform or none : 

 perigynium erect, lanceolate, nearly nerveless, with narrow serrate margins, longer 

 than the similarly colored scale. New Mexico, near Santa Fe (Fendler), and 

 probably northward. 



82. C. cristata, Schw. Differs from the last in its smaller size, fewer, 

 smaller, more densely Jlowered and more aggregated spikes which are globular : 

 perigynium smaller, spreading at right angles or even reflexed, giving a character- 

 istic cristate appearance to the spikes. C. lagopodioides, var. cristata, Carey. 

 Laramie hills, E. Wyoming (Hayden), and eastward. 



Var. mirabilis, Boott, is a form with long and lax culms, broader, ovate 

 perigynium with the points loosely conspicuous, and the spikes looser Jlowered. 

 C. mirabilis, Dew. C. lagopodioides, var. mirabilis, Olney. Nebraska (Dewey), 

 and probably common along our eastern borders. Transition to C. straminea, 

 from which it is distinguished by its lax culms and leaves, aggregated and 

 rounded spikes which are green or greenish, and much narrower and thinner 

 perigynia. 



83. C. SCOparia, Schk. Culms rather stiff, about as long as the very 

 narrow and long-pointed leaves : spikes 4 to 8, generally aggregated into a close 

 head, club-shaped or ovate, pointed, straw-colored when mature: perigynium 

 elliptic-lanceolate, straw-colored: runs into No. 81. C. lagopodioides, var. 

 scoparia, Bcklr. Colorado (Herb. Olney), and probably throughout the conti- 

 nent to the east. 



H- -*. Perigynium thickened in the middle, with conspicuous wing-margins which 

 are more or less incurved, mostly tawny or brown. 



84. C. leporina, L. Cespitose : culms erect, 6 to 1 6 inches high, scabrous 

 above, mostly longer than the leaves : spikes 3 to 6, erect, ovoid, all contiguous 

 into an oblong dark brown head: lower bracts often green and as long as the 

 head, but usually all scale-like : perigynium ovate or ovate-lanceolate, broadly 



