YPERACEJE. (SEDGE FAMILY.) 533 



* * Spikes 4 - 7 ; the terminal one entirely staminate, small and linear, or with 

 some fertile flowers at the apex : the rest all pistillate : bracts very long, 

 sheathing. 



122. C. stciiolepis, Torr. Fertile spikes cylindrical, obtuse, the upper 

 approximated, nearly sessile on the zigzag stem, the lower remote on exserted 

 stalks, all erect, very densely flowered ; perigynia shorter than the long awn-like 

 scales. (C. Frankii, Kunth. C. Shortii, Stead., not of Torr.) Marshes, W. 

 Penn. ? and Virginia to Illinois, and southwestward. Somewhat resembling 

 the last ; but the spikes are narrower and more numerous, and of a still more 

 bristly appearance from the projecting points of the scales : occasionally all are 

 fertile, the uppermost having no staminate flowers. 



$ 14. Perigynia much inflated, nerved (nerveless in No. 132), smooth and shining, 

 becoming straw-colored at maturity, with a tapering more or less elongated 2-toothed 

 beak: bracts leaf-like, with very short or obsolete sheaths {conspicuously 

 sheathing in No. 123), much exceeding the culm (except in No. 132) : scales 

 brown or tawny : staminate spikes 2-5 rarely 1, stalked. VESicA.Ri.2B. 



123. C. retro rsa, Schw. Sterile spikes 1-3, the uppermost occasionally 

 with a few fertile flowers, the rest more or less pistillate at the base ; fertile spikes 

 4 5, oblong-cylindrical , erect, the upper approximate and clustered on short or in- 

 cluded stalks, the lowest remote on a long exserted stalk, and (with one or more of 

 the others) often bearing 1-2 short branches at the base; perigynia crowded, 

 spreading and at length reflexed, strongly (few-) nerved, tapering from an ovoid 

 contracted base into a conspicuously toothed beak much longer than the lanceolate 

 scale. (C. reversa, Spreng.) Marshy borders of streams, New England to 

 Penn., Wisconsin, and northwestward. Culm nearly smooth : leaves and 

 bracts 3" -4" wide, much exceeding the spikes, which are I'-l^' long. 



124. C. gigailtca, Eudge. Sterile spikes several (3-5); perigynia hori- 

 zontally spreading and less tumid than in No. 120 : otherwise very like it, but a 

 still larger plant. Swamps, along rivers, from the Ohio (near Louisville, Ken- 

 tucky, Short) southward. 



125. C. SchweinitZii, Dew. Sterile spikes commonly 2, the lower 

 often pistillate at the base ; fertile spikes 3-4, cylindrical, somewhat drooping, 

 densely flowered, often staminate at the apex, and occasionally the lower rather 

 compound at the base, on smooth nearly included stalks ; perigynia erect, oblong- 

 ovoid, few-nerved, tapering into a long and smooth short-toothed beak, a little longer 

 than the lanceolate long-awned scale. Wet swamps, New England, New Jersey, 

 W. New York, and northward; not common. Culm 10' -15' high, smooth: 

 bracts and leaves 2" -3" wide, smooth except the margins, much exceeding 

 the culm : fertile spikes (!' to 2' long, rather narrow) and the whole plant 

 turning straw-color. 



126. C. vesicaria, L. Sterile spikes 2-3; fertile spaces mostly 2, rarely 

 3 or solitary, oblong or cylindrical, stout, approximate, the upper sessile, the lower 

 on a short rough stalk; perigynia oblong-ovoid, IT -nerved at base, 10-nerved above, 

 with a short tapering beak longer and broader than the pointed or long-tapering 

 awnless scale ; culm sharply angled and rough ; leaves and bracts green, equal- 

 ling or rather longer than the culm. N. New England? and northward. 



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