386 CYPEKACE^E. (SEDGE FAMILY.) 



w- ++ Culms 3 to 18 inches high: leaves more or less involute when dry. 



45. C. Vlllgaris, Fries. Stoloniferous, not tufted, bluish in appearance: 

 culms mostly stout, sharply angled, smooth except near the top, longer than 

 the narrow leaves : staminate spikes 1 to 3, usually 2 : pistillate spikes 2 to 4, 

 usually about an inch long, stout, densely flowered (or the lower rarely loosely 

 flowered at the base), erect, sessile or the lower shortly peduncled, green and 

 black in appearance, with a bract nearly or quite as long as the culm : bracts 

 usually bearing minute purple auricles at the top of the sheath : perigynium 

 appressed, oval, ovate or round-ovate, finely striate towards the base, bright 

 green above the middle, the distinct beak entire or emarginate, longer and 

 broader than the obtuse, black, green-nerved appressed scale. Twin Lakes, 

 Colorado ( John Wolfe : these specimens were named C. turfosa, Fries, in the 

 Preliminary Report of Wheeler's Survey, but they lack the yellowish-purple 

 spikes and rough-angled perigynia of that Scandinavian plant). 



A perplexingly variable species, distinguished from Nos. 43 and 44 by its 

 lower, stiffer, less cespitose habit, and thicker, oblong, conspicuously green 

 and black spikes, and more nerved perigynia, rather than by any positive 

 descriptive characters. Scandinavian caricographers state that reticulated 

 basal sheaths never occur in any of the forms of this species. The auricles at 

 the base of the bracts are often inconspicuous, and they are sometimes present 

 in C. stricta and others of the Acutoz. The type of the species is common in 

 the Eastern United States, in Europe, and in Asia. In our region the follow- 

 ing varieties appear to be clearly made out : 



Var. juncella, Fries. Cespitose and very slender: leaves narrow, longer 

 than the culm : spikes linear, often much attenuated at the base : perigynium 

 elliptic or broader, distinctly nerved and beaked, longer than the obtuse 

 black-margined scale. C. Kelloggii, W. Boott. Wahsatch Mountains, Utah 

 ( Watson, M. E. Jones). Different from all other forms of C. vulgar is in its 

 slender and lax habit. It much resembles the type in the green and black of 

 its spikes. (Eu.) 



Var. hyperborea, Boott. Culms and leaves as in the species : staminate 

 spike one : pistillate spikes 3 to 5, slender, lax, loosely flowered at the base, 

 the lower peduncled and often remote, black-purple or fuscous-purple : peri- 

 gynium narrow, mostly elliptic, almost pointless, entire at the orifice, very 

 faintly nerved towards the base, shorter or rarely a little longer than the acute 

 or acutish dark purple scale. C. hyperborea, Drejer. C. limula, Fries. 

 C. Bigelovii, Torr. C. Washingtoniana, Dew. C. rigida, var. Bigelovii, 

 Tuckm. Alpine regions, Colorado, northward and westward. (Eu.) 



Var. alpina, Boott. Leaves broad (2 lines) and flat: staminate spikes 

 sometimes 2, usually 1 : pistillate spikes 3 to 5, short and thick (3 to 9 lines 

 long), erect, approximate or the lowest sometimes remote and shortlj r pedun- 

 cled, dark purple : auricles very prominent : perigynium obovate or nearty 

 circular, nerveless, shortly beaked, pale below, usually more or less purple 

 above, commonly shorter than the very dark, acute scale. C. rigida, Gooden. 

 C. saxatilis of Scand. authors, not L. With the last. (Eu.) 

 13. Staminate spike one, short, either pistillate above or not conspicuous (except 

 in No. 46) : pistillate spikes none to several, short and thick, mostly dark- 

 colored, commonly aggregated (often only approximate) sometimes staminate at 



