Cajrex. CYPERACEiE. 231 



8. C. marcida, Boott. Stem 1 to 2|feet high, slender, scabrous : leaves a line 

 broad, shorter than the stem: spike 8 to 15 lines long, 3 to 5 lines thick, sumetnues 

 nearly dioecious, of a dull brown color, composed of many ovate crowded or con- 

 ti^aious closely imbricated spikelets 2 or 3 lines long and a line thick, the upper 

 simple the lower compound: bracts clasping, scale-like, setaceously pointed, the 

 lowest'exceeding its spikelet : perigynium nearly black at maturity, orbicular with a 

 short, or ovate with a longer bidentate beak, stipitate, plano-convex or the sharp 

 marcrins incurved, nerved, serrate above, equalling the ovate acute or cuspidate hya- 

 line-margined scale : nutlet ferruginous, oval, lenticular, produced at base. — Hook. 

 FL Bor.-Am. ii. 212, t. 213, and 111. i. 16, t. 45. 



From Orecron and the Saskatchewan to Southern California, Utah and New Mexico ; on the 

 Lower Sacramento {Pickering); Santa Clara marshes {Pecklmm) ; iort Tejon (//(^nt) ; Sierra 

 County, LcDunon, etc. 



9 C. Gayana, Desv. Rootstock creeping : stem 1 or 2 feet high, scabrous : 

 leaves a line or two broad, shorter than the stem : spike dark chestnut, 8 to 10 hnes 

 Ion" and 4 to 7 thick, oblong or ovoid, capitate, dioecious or very nearly so, naked 

 or with 1 or 2 setaceous bracts shorter than the stem, of numerous crowded spike- 

 lets 2 to 4 lines long, the lower compound ; scales membranous, chestnut-colored 

 with hyaline margins, ovate, acuminate, carinate, cuspidate : perigynium chestnut- 

 colored and shining, thick and spongy, broadly ovate or triangular in outline, very 

 convex or gibbous below on the outer sides, flat on the inner, long-tissured on the out- 

 side, few-nerved at the somewhat cordate stipitate base, serrate above on the slightly 

 winged margins, ending in a very short minute conical beak with a nearly entire 

 whitish orifice, shorter' than the scale : nutlet dark chestnut, orbicular, produced at 

 base. —Gay, Fl. Chil. vi. 205, t. 73, fig. 3 ; Boott, 111. iii. 126, t. 411. 



Sonora Pass (Brewer) ; in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and New Mexico, also in Chili. 

 Boeckeler (Linnaja, xxxix. 54) refers the species to C. divisa, Huds., which is tound in Lurope, 

 Asia and Africa. 



10. C. Douglasii, Boott. Eootstock creeping : stem about a foot high, obtusely 

 angled, smooth : leaves 1 or 2 lines broad, tapering to an extremely slender triangu- 

 lar°summit : bracts scale-like, clasping, cuspidate or the lowest prolonged beyond the 

 stem : spikes dioecious or nearly so, oblong, pale or chestnut-colored or ferruginous, 

 an inch or two long an<l 6 to 9 lines thick, of many ellipsoidal or ovoid crowded 

 spikelets, the upper simple, the lower compound and sometimes branching, often 

 half an inch long : perigynium ovate or lanceolate-ovate, acuminate to a slender 

 obliquely cut entire (at length bidentate) beak, stipitate, nerved, very convex on the 

 outer side, the obtuse margins incurved, serrate above, shorter than the ample mem- 

 branous oblong or lanceolate acute or cuspidate hyaline-margined scale : nutlet 

 chestnut-colored, suborbicular : stigmas very long. — Hook. Fl. Bor.-Am. ii. 213, 

 t. 214. C. Nuttallii, Dewey, 1. c. Ixiii. 92, t. 2, fig. 97. 



Var. brunnea, Olney. Taller, 10 to 22 inches high : leaves equalling or longer 

 than the stem, which very rarely bears a second spike on a long {10 inches) filiform 

 subradical peduncle : lower bracts long-awned : spikelets fewer, the lowest distinct ; 

 scales chestnut-brown. — Bot. King Exp. 360. 



Frequent from Washington Territory and the Rocky Mountains of British America to New 

 Mexico and Northern Mexico ; in the Yosemite Valley [Bolandcr, n. 6199), and m Mojio ^ 'V^V. 

 Brewer, n. 1813. The variety near Auburn and Sacramento City {Bolandcr, n. 4503, 4o49, 4ooU), 

 and in Washoe Valley, Nevada, Stretch, Watson. 



V. ■■!: Spikelets andfogijnous, aggregated at the top of the stem. 



-H- Sjnhelets mule at the top. 



11. C. Hoodii, Boott. Stems very slender, sharply angled, scabrous: leaves 



1 to U lines broad, the upper the longest, equalling or exceeding the stem : bracts 



scale-like, ovate or the lowest setaceous, shorter than the stem : spike ferruginous, ot 



