252 CYPERACE^. Carex. 



7G. C. vesicaria, Linn. Rootstock creeping : stem 1 to 3| feet liigh, sharply 

 ano-led, scabroius : leaves 2 or 3 lines broad, the upper exceeding the stem ; sheaths 

 Mbroiis-reticulate : bracts exceeding the stem, the lowest rarely with sheaths 2 to 9 

 lines long : spikes 3 to 8, the male 2 or 3, contiguous, 1 to 1 f inches long and 



1 to 1| lines tliick, the lowest setaceously bracted ; female spikes 2 or 3, rarely 4, 

 an inch or two long, 4 to 6 lines thick, oblong or cylindrical, approximate and. 

 densely flowered or the lowest remote and loosely flowered at base, the upper sessile, 

 the lower on nodding peduncles ^ to Ih inches long; scales membranous, pnrple, 

 pale in the middle with hyaline margins, the male linear-oblong, broadest near the 

 top, acute, the female ovate or lanceolate, acute or acuminate, not awned : perigyn- 

 ium straw-colored, ovoid-conical or suljglobose- ovoid, obtusely angled, gradually 

 tapering to an obliquely cut bi dentate beak, glabrous, shining, nerved, ascending, 

 longer and broader than the scale : nutlet cliestnut-colored, triangular-obovoid, jjunc- 

 tate : style contorted. — Schk. Car. fig. 106. 



A^ar. j3, Boott. Leaves and bracts much longer : perigynium conical, the beak 

 very long and teeth minute : scales ciliate at top. — 111. iv. 162, t. 537. 



Var. y. Leaves and bracts much exceeding the stem : male spikes 2, rarely 3, 

 A to If inches long, the female 1 to 3, | to 1;^ inches long, the lowest short-pedun- 

 cled ; scales purple, broadly hyaline on the upper margins and at the summit, obtuse, 

 the female ovate : perigynium purplish at top, broadly ovoid, abru})tly contracted to 

 a longer or shorter minutely bidentate beak, the length of the scale : stigmas very 

 rarely 2. 



The typical form, of Europe and Kamtschatka, rarely found in Xortli America, has heen col- 

 lected in the Yosemite Valley (Brewer, n. 1654 ; Bolandcr, n. 6200), and in Oregon. The first 

 variety, found by Lyall on Saturna Island, British Columbia, occurs also at Tomales Bay 

 (Bolandcr, n. 2303) ; and the second at Soda Springs on the Tuolumne, Brewer, n. 1781. 



77. C. Utriculata, Boott. Stoloniferous, glaucous : stem stout, spongy at base, 



2 to 3 ieet high or more, smooth below the spikes : leaves closely nodose-reticnlated, 

 2 to 6 lines broad, much exceeding the stem, carinate, the margins recurved : bracts 

 much longer than the stem, the lowest sometimes with sheaths :| to 1 inch long : 

 male spikes 2 to 5, linear, 1 to 4|^ inches long and a line thick, often female at top, 

 the lowest bracted ; the female 2" to 6, cylindrical, obtuse, | to 7i inches long and 

 4 to 8 lines thick, approximate or remote, the upper sessile, often conspicuously male 

 above and rarely at bottom, densely flowered, the lowest peduncled, often attenuate 

 and loosely flowered at base, sometimes compound ; peduncles 8 lines to 10 inches 

 long ; scales membranous, purple, pale in the middle with hyaline margins, oblong 

 or lanceolate, acute or roughly awned : perigynium straw-colored, shining, smooth, 

 ellipsoidal, ovoid or globose-ovoid, inflated, gradually or more or less abruptly con- 

 tracted to a cylindrical bicuspidate beak, spreading or squarrose, nerved, broader and 

 mostly longer than the scale : nutlet triangular-obovoid, olive-colored : style con- 

 torted. — Hook. Fl. Bor.-Am. ii. 221, and 111. i. 14, t. 39. 



In the Sierra Nevada, frequent, from Fresno County northward ; eastward, from subarctic 

 British America to the northern Atlantic States, Colorado ami Utah. Boeckeler (Linnwa, xli. 

 318) refers to this species C. Imvirostris, Fries (Kunze, Suppl. i. 194, t. 49), of northern 

 Europe and Siberia, which is sinular in most of its characters, but the bracts are described and 

 figured as about equalling the stem, and the scales as acute and not as awned. 



78. C. pseudocyperus, I>inn., var. comosa, Boott. Stem U to 2| feet high, 

 stout, very scaljrous on the sharp angles : leaves rigid, nodose, 2| to 5 lines broad, 

 tapering to a long slender triangular apex, the upper exceeding the stem : bracts of 

 the female spikes much exceeding the stem, the lowest sometimes Avith a sheath 

 1 to 3| inches long, usually sheathless : spikes 4 to 6, densely floAvered, the upper- 

 most male, linear, 1 to 3| inches long, often female at top or sometimes almost 

 ■wholly so; female spikes 1| to 3 inches long and 4 to 7 lines thick, stout, cylindri- 

 cal, rarely male at top and compound at bottom, drooping or pendulous, approximate 

 or the lowest remote; peduncles 2 to 18 lines long, or the lowest 4 to 10 inches ; 



