CYPERACE^E. (SEDGE FAMILY.) 381 



8. Staminate spikes one or more : pistillate spikes two to several, stout, erect, 

 mostly shortly peduncled, somewhat squarrose or comose in appearance : peri- 

 gynium thick in texture, hairy, more or less spreading, distinctly and stoutly 

 straight-beaked, the teeth short: scales prominent. LASIOCARP^E, Fries. 

 Stout, mostly tall species, in wet or grassy places. Our species falls 

 under the group Lanuginosce, Carey. 



30. C. filiformis, L., var. latifolia, Beklr. Stoloniferous : culms 1 to 

 2| feet high, strong : leaves flat 1 to 2 lines broad, about the length or longer 

 than the culm : staminate spikes 1 to 3, the lower small and aggregated at the 

 base of the terminal one : pistillate spikes 1 to 4, remote, sessile or nearly so, 

 or the lower peduncled, f to 2 inches long, often loosely flowered at the base : 

 bracts leaf -like, usually much exceeding the culm, the upper sheathless : peri- 

 gynium ovate or shortly ovoid, abruptly contracted into a very short, erect, 

 divergently and very shortly toothed beak : scales ovate, purple, acute or cus- 

 pidate, shorter or longer than the turgid and densely hairy perigynium. 

 C. lanuginosa, Michx. C. pellita, Muhl. Throughout, in wet and swampy 

 places. 



Var. aematorhyncha, W. Boott, is a form with purple beaks : scarcely 

 distinct from the last variety. C. cematorhyncha, Desv. Jordan Valley, 

 Utah (Sereno Watson). 



The species may be expected in Montana. It is distinguished by its filiform 

 and involute leaves. 



9. Staminate spike mostly single : pistillate spikes 2 to 4, short, oblong or globu- 

 lar, sessile or nearly so, erect, compactly /lowered, in our species approximate 

 at the top of' the culm and subtended by long and leafy bracts: perigynium 

 smooth, nerved, conspicuously beaked, not prominently toothed. SPIROSTA- 

 CHY^E, Drejer. Rather slender species. 



31. C. flava, L. Culm slender, 4 to 18 inches high, smooth, longer than 

 the narrow stem leaves : bracts much longer than the culm, leaf-like, very 

 shortly sheathed : staminate spike short, mostly sessile : perigynium shining, 

 yellowish, reflexed at maturity, twice the length of the scale. Meadows 

 and wet places, Hudson's Bay Creek, Montana ( W. M. Canby), and north- 

 ward. (Eu.) 



10. Staminate spikes two or more, long-stalked: pistillate spikes 2 to several, 

 usually all peduncled, long and heavy, loosely flowered, erect or nodding: peri- 

 gynium large, thick in texture, strongly nerved, hairy or smooth, produced into 

 a long beak which terminates in very conspicuous awl-like erect or spreading 

 teeth. ECHINOSTACIIY^:, Drejer. Coarse species. 



32. C. trichocarpa, Muhl., var. aristata, Bailey. Culms very stout, 

 sharply angled : sheaths and under side of the leaves sparsely hairy : stami- 

 nate spikes 3 to 8, usually considerably separated ; the scales very long, loose 

 and pointed : pistillate spikes 2 to 3 inches long, 5 lines or more broad, 

 upright, scattered, loosely flowered at the base : perigynium very strongly 

 nerved, smooth, ovate-lanceolate, terminated by very conspicuous divaricate, 

 smooth and slender teeth (which are l to 2 lines long), usually longer than 

 the rough-awned scale. C. aristata, R. Br. C. mirata, Dew. Bogs and 

 creeks, Utah ( Watson, L. F. Ward ) ; to British America. 



