CYPERACE^E. (SEDGE FAMILY.) 528 



abiupt straight point : bracts narrow, with very short or obsolete sheaths, the 

 lowest exceeding the culm : pistillate scales tawny or white : spikes 2-4, erect, 

 the uppermost androgynous, pistillate at tfie apex and club-s'iaptd ; the test all fer- 

 tile. VlRESCEXTES. 



72. C. Virescens, Muhl. Spikes oblong or cylindrical, on short st alks ; peri- 

 gynia ovoid, nearly entire at the orifice, rather longer than the ovate awned scale ; 

 leaves and sheaths hairy. ( C. costata, Schw.) Rocky woods and hill-sides, New 

 England to Michigan, and southward. Culms rough and slender, l-2 high; 

 fertile spikes ' - 1 ' long. 



73. C. triceps, Michx. Spikes ovoid, nearly sessile, closely approximate; 

 perigynia broadly obovoid, entire at the orifice, downy when young, smooth at matu- 

 rity, rather longer than the pointed scale ; sheaths very hairy, leaves more or less 

 so. (C. hirsuta, WilLd. C. viridula, Schw. fr Torr., not of Michx.) Varies 

 with the spikes rather longer and on stalks, and the leaves nearly smooth. (C. 

 hirsuta, var. pcdunculata, Schw. $ Torr.) Woods and meadows; rather com- 

 mon ; the smoother form southward. Culm 1 2' - 1 8' high. Spikes ' - ' long. 



4. Perigynia without a beak, smooth, not inflated, 3-angled, regularly striate, termi- 

 nating in a short entire rather obliquely bent or recurved point, remaining green at 

 maturity : pistillate scales membranaceous, mostly tipped with a rough point 

 or awn, brown or spotted, fading to white : staminate spike solitary : pistillate 

 spikes 2-5, few-flowered, more or less remote, the lowest often near the base 

 of the culra. 



* Sterile spike club-shaped : fertile spikes (erect, the uppermost commonly near 

 the base of the sterile) all on stalks principally included within sheathing bract* 

 (except sometimes the lowest), shorter than the spikes, or not much exceeding them : 

 perigynia ovoid-triquetrous, narrowed at each end : culms numerous, diffuse and 

 in fruit becoming prostrate : leaves all radical, very broad, finely and closely 

 nerved throughout, with 3 distinct ribs. PLAXTAofxE^E. 



74. C. plailtaginea, Lam. Fertile spikes commonly 4, oblong, about 5- 

 8-flowered ; bracts very short, dark purple, or the lowest greenish at the apex. 

 (C. latifolia, Scfik.) Shady woods, mostly on hill-sides in rich soil, New Eng- 

 land to Wisconsin, and northward ; and southward in the Alleghanies. 



75. C. Carey j\na, Torr. Fertile spikes 2- - 3, ovoid or oblong, about 3 - 5- 

 flowered, bracts green, the upper about equal to the spikes, the lower somewhat 

 exceeding them; perigynia large (2" -2" in length); leaves dark green. In 

 similar situations with the last, X. New York to Penn. and Ohio : rare. 



76. C. platypliylla, Carey. Fertile spikes 9, filiform, loosely 3 -^-flow- 

 ered; bracts as in the last; perigynia small ; culms slender; leaves pule or whitish- 

 green. In similar situations with No. 74, and with the same range. 



* * Sterile spike short, club-shaped, pedunculate : fertile spikes 2 - 4, all on fili- 

 form exserttd stalks, with long s/u-a thing bracts resembling the leaves, the upper- 

 most, as well as the leaves, exceeding the slender and at length prostrate 

 culms : perigynia as in the last subsection. DIGITALIS. 



77. C. retrocurva, Dew. Fertile spikes ovoid or oblong, compactly 3-S- 

 fawercd, on long drooping stalks: leaves glaucous, 3-4 tines wide, with 3 pout '.wit 



