594 CYPERACE^:. (SEDGE FAMILY.) 



# * Fertile spikes short : perigynia nerveless : bracts short FLEXILES. 



109. C. capillaris, L. Fertile spikes commonly 3, minute, with about 6 alter- 

 nate flowers ; perigynia oblong-ovoid, contracted at the base, tapering into a long slightly 

 serrulate beak, with an oblique nearly entire orifice, longer than the ovate scale. 



Point de Tour, Lake Michigan; alpine summits of the White Mountains, 

 New Hampshire; and high northward. An extremely delicate species, 4' -6' 

 high, with spikes 3" -6'' long, and a line or less in width. (Eu.) 



110. C. flexilis, Rudge. Sterile spike short and club-shaped ; fertile spikes 

 oblong or sometimes with a few staminate flowers at the base and becoming 

 club-shaped; the upper bracts short and scale-like, the lower bristle-shaped, 

 very slightly sheathing ; perigynia ovoid, obscurely neryed, tapering into a 

 beak about the length of the ovate hairy-fringed scale,- leaves pale green and 

 glaucous, and with the bracts soft-hairy. (C. blephardphora, Gray.) Moist 

 and shady places, Connecticut (near Salisbury), Central and Northern New 

 York, Lake Superior, and Newfoundland : rare. 



9. Perigynia slightly inflated, obtusely 3-angled, nerved, smooth, tapering into a beak, 

 with two mostly distinct teeth, becoming tawny or yellow at maturity : achenium 

 obovate-triquetrous, contracted at the base ; staminate spike usually soli- 

 tary. FiAv^E. 



# Perigynia erect, slender-beaked: spikes remote; the staminate one usually long- 



stalked: bracts not exceeding the culm, and with long sheaths. 



111. C. ISBVigata, Smith. Fertile spikes 3, cylindrical, on exserted nodding 

 stalks ; perigynia ovoid, tapering into a 2-cleft beak, rather longer than the light- 

 brown or purplish pointed and awned scale; culm smooth. (C. Greeniana, Dew.) 



Massachusetts (Tewksbury? B. D. Greene). Introduced? (Eu.) 



112. C. fli.lv a, Good. Fertile spikes 2-3, oblong or ovoid, erect, the lowest on 

 an exserted stalk ; perigynia ovoid, not much exceeding the dark-brown scarcely 

 pointed awnless scale; culm rough. (C. binervis, Dew., not of Smith.) Pond at 

 Tewksbury, Massachusetts, B. D. Greene: not since found. (Eu.) 



# # Perigynia ascending, short-beaked : spikes approximate or the lower remote ; the 



staminate one sessile or nearly so ; bracts much surpassing the culm ; the upper 

 nearly without sheaths. 



113. C. ext&QSa, Good. Fertile spikes 2 -4. oblong, brown-green, very 

 dense (5" -10" long), the upper nearly sessile, the lowest on a short included 

 stalk; perigynia ovate, the short conical beak sharply 2 -toothed, longer than 

 the ovate pointed purple scale ; leaves and bracts long and narrow, involute, 

 erect, rigid ; culms tufted, 8' - 20' high. Border of salt-marshes, coast of Long 

 Island, New York, Dr. T. F. Allen. (Eu.) 



# * Perigynia spreading or reflexed, longer than the scale : spikes mostly approxi- 



mate or crowded; the staminate mostly sessile or short-stalked, often fertile at the 

 apex or middle / the fertile (2-4) erect all or all but the lowest short-stalked or 

 sessile : bract.s much exceeding the smooth culm, their sheaths very short. 



114. C. flava, L. Fertile spikes 2, roundish-ovoid, dense, the upper approxi- 

 mated, the lowest often remote on a short exserted stalk ; bracts spreading or re- 

 flexed; perigynia tapering from an ovoid contracted base into a slender recurved 



