516 CYPERACE/.. (SEDGE FAMILY.) 



38. C. adftsta, Boott. Spikes 4-10, approximate or rather distant, ovate 

 or at length club-shaped (straw-color or pale chestnut) ; perigynia ovate with a 

 tapering beak, slightly winged, rather obscurely nerved, especially on the upper side, 

 equalling the scale in length and breadth. Rhode Island (Olney), New York 

 (S. T. Carey, $*c.), Lake Superior (C. G. Loring, Jr., with the smaller form), 

 and northward. Much like some forms of the next, but the spikes more chaffy, 

 the perigynia tapering into a longer beak. 



39. C. festlicacea, Schk. Spikes 6-8, obovoid or club-shaped, the lower 

 distinct; perigynia ovate, narrowly winged, with a short beak, longer than the ovate 



.lanceolate scale; achenium sessile, broadly oval. Var. TENERA has (3-5) 

 smaller spikes, which are more distant on the slender, flexuose, sometimes nod- 

 ding stem. (C. tenera, Dew.) Var. MIRABILIS has (6-8) rounder approx- 

 imate spikes, with fewer staminate flowers, and the perigynia somewhat spread- 

 ing. (C. mirabilis, Dew.} About fields and fences ; rather common, especially- 

 northward. A stiff and rigid species, often of a pale-green appearance, except 

 the first variety, which has commonly brownish heads, and a weak stem. 



40. C. fttenea, Muhl. Spikes 4 -W, ovoid, approximate, the lower rarely 

 compound, of a glaucous-green color ; perigynia ovate, winged, with a short beak, 

 scarcely longer than the oblong and bluntish white scale ; achenium on a short 

 stalk, oval. Salt or brackish marshes, on the sea-coast, Rhode Island (Olney) 

 to Virginia, and southward. Much like the last, from which it differs princi- 

 pally in the color of the spikes, and in the constantly erect and more broadly- 

 margined perigynia. The culm is smooth and stout. 



41 C. Straminea, Schk. Spikes (about 6), roundish-ovoid, approximate ; 

 perigynia orbicular-ovate, much compressed, broadly and membranaceously winged, 

 with a short abrupt beak a little longer than the lanceolate scale ; achenium 

 nearly sessile, oval. Borders of woods and in fields ; rather common. The 

 larger forms have a remarkably wide wing, often brown on the margin, giving a 

 variegated appearance to the soft and flaccid spikes. In the smaller forms the 

 heads are fewer (3-4) and more rigid, owing to the narrower wings of the 

 perigynia. \ 



I>. Staminate and pistillate flowers borne in separate (commonly more or less 

 stalkeW) simple spikes on the same culm ; the one or more staminate (sterile) spikes 

 constantly uppermost, having occasionally more or less fertile flowers intermixed 

 the lower spikes all pistillate (fertile), or sometimes with staminate flowers at th 

 base or apex : stigmas 3 : achenium sharply triangular (only 2 stigmas and thft 

 achenium lenticular in No. 42-51 and 58). CAREX Proper. 



$ 1. Perigynia without a beak, smooth, not inflated (slightly in No. 51), terminating 

 in a minute, straight, entire or notched point, glaucous-green when young, be- 

 coming whitish, often spotted or tinged with purple, or occasionally nearly 

 black at maturity : pistillate scales blackish-purple (brown in No. 51 and 57), 

 giving a dark appearance to the spikes. 



* Sterile spikes 1-3, stalked, often with more or less fertile flowers : pistillate 

 spikes 3-5, frequently with sterile flowers at the apex : bract of the lowest spike 

 leaf-like, with dark-colored expansions (auricles) at the base, and T ?ry minute 

 sheaths, or none. ( Culm and leaves more or less glaucous.) 



