378 CYPERACE^. (SEDGE FAMILY.) 



§ 6. Spikes 2 or more (1 in No. 17), more or less peduncled: staminate spike one 

 in our species: pistillate spikes mosthj compactlij flowered and cylindrical, 

 erect: bracts leafy, sheathing or sheathless : perigyniuiajirm in texture, smooth 

 (except in No. 24, and in young specimens of No. 23), slightly inflated, very 

 shortly and stoutly beaked or sometimes beakless, conspicuously nerred (except 

 in No. 22). — Brack yrhynch^. Slender, not very leafy species. 



* Spike one, staminate above: perigynium beakless. — PoLTTRiCHOiDEiE, 



Tuckm. Including one very slender species of doubtful affinity, interme- 

 diate between the Pallescentes and the Elongatce. 



17. C. polytrichoides, Muhl. Cespitose: culms many, almost capillary, 

 usually longer than the very narrow leaves : staminate flowers very few : peri- 

 gynia 2 to 8, alternate and appressed, green, triangular below, flattened to- 

 wards the top, blunt or emarginate at the apex, much longer than the ovate 

 acute scale : stigmas rarely 2. — Low ground, Colorado and northward. 



* * Staminate spike in our species sessile or short-stalked : pistillate spikes short 



(occasionally an inch long in No. 19) : perigynium obtuse or short beaked, 

 straight at the apex, longer than the white or tawny acute scale. — Palles- 

 centes, Fries. 



18. C. Torreyi, Tuckm. Culms 8 to 16 inches high, sharply angled, 

 longer than the hairy leaves: pistillate spikes 1 to 3, roundish, approximate, 

 almost sessile : perigynium round-obovate, sunken at the top, very abruptly tipped 

 with a short stout hyaline-margined beak: bracts short, about the length of the 

 culm, sheathless. — Clear Creek Canon, near Golden City, Colorado {Rev. E. L. 

 Greene) ; also in British America; rare. 



19. C. grisea, Wahl. Culms lax, 8 to 20 inches high: leaves smooth, lax, 

 and flat (3 lines wide in typical forms, often much narrower) : pistillate spikes 

 3 to 6, rather loosely flowered and cylindrical, or sometimes reduced to 2 or 3 

 floirers, remote, all more or less peduncled : bracts ivide and leaf-like, surpassing 

 the culm: perigynium large, turgid-ohlong, green, flnely many-nerved, finely punc- 

 tate icith shining glands, beakless or very nearly so: scale rough-aivned. — S. Utah 

 (Dr. E. Palmer) and southeastward; Nebraska [Hayden). This species bears 

 little general resemblance to the preceding. 



* * * Staminate spike usually long-peduncled : pistillate spikes scattered, all 



{at least the lower) on exsei-ted stalks: bracts shorter than the culm {longer in 

 No. 20), sheathing: perigynium glaucous-green before maturity, becoming pale 

 or yellow, the apex oblique or bent and short-beaked {or nearly beakless in 

 No. 20).— Panice^, Tuckm. 



20. C. aurea, Nutt. Stoloniferous : culm 1 to 12 inches high, slender, 

 sharply angled, longer or shorter than t?ie flat and narrow glaucous leaves : 

 bracts leaf-like, the loicer much exceeding the culm : spikes 3 to 6, the staminate 

 often nearly sessile, the pistillate loosely floioered, the loiver remote, often on radi- 

 cal peduncles : scales colored on the margins, ovate, shorter than the turgid, 

 globose or pear-shaped, bright yellow or straw-colored and irholly obtuse or slightly 

 pointed perig'/nium : stigmas commonly 2, — Common throughout on moist 

 grassy hillsides and low mountains. A delicate and pretty species, readily 

 distinguished when mature by its bright colored, often almost fleshy peri- 

 gynia. The staminate spike is occasionally pistillate at the apex. The apex 

 of the perigynium is often slightly excurved as in the true Panicece. 



