CYPEKACB^. (sedge FAMILY.) 395 



76. C. lagopina, Wahl. Cespitose: culms 4 to 10 inches high, erect, 

 ratlier longer than the leaves: spikes usunlly 3, often 5 or G, subijlobose or ovoid, 

 reddish-brown, coinpactlij Jluicered, contiguous or the lowest a little remote, all 

 srmdl, longer thau the scale-like bracts : perigijnium small, obocate or elli])tic(d, 

 usuallji colored ah ve, thick in texture, nerved, tapering towards the base, often 

 curved, rather abruptli/ short-beaked, the beak with a closed fissure on the outer 

 side, longer than the orate, broad, brown, hijaline.-margined acute scale. — Uinta 

 Mountains, Utah ( Watson). A small alpine species, distinguished by its heads 

 of few dark-colored spikes, its narrow leaves, and cespitose habit. (Ku.) 



■*-•«-•«- Perigijnium ovate, sharp-margined, firm, often thickened at the base, 

 spreading, in open and at maturitg stellate spikes. 



77. C. echinata, Murr. Cespitose : culms sharply angled, smooth or 

 rough, slender and erect (6 inches to 2 feet high), usually longer than the 

 narrow, pale leaves: spikes small, about 8 to 15-flowered, scattered, globular, 

 the upper one conspicuously contracted below with staminate flowers, or 

 rarely all the spikes staminate or all pistillate (C. sterilis, Willd.) : perigynium 

 ovate or ovate-lanceolate, gradually narrowed into a sharp-edged, rough, 

 toothed beak, nerved, spreading or reflexed, about the length of or longer 

 thau the acute scale. — C. stellulnta, Gooden. Var. microcarpa, Bcklr. 

 (C. scirpoides, Schk., C. steUulata, var. scirpoides, Carey) includes small and 

 fewer-flowered forms. Twin Lakes, Colorado (John Wolfe) ; also in Arizona 

 and British America. (Eu.) 



# * Spikes taivng or dark, rather large, sometimes crowded: perigynimn icith 

 a more or less thin or ivinged margin ivhich is mostlg incurved at maturity, 

 rendering the perigijnium concave inside. — Ovales, Kunth. 



•t- Spikes aggregated into a more or less dense head. 



78. C. Bonplandii, Kunth, var. angUStifolia, Boott. Stoloniferons: 

 culm slender and nearlij naked (a foot or more high), longer than the grass-like 

 leaves: spikes 3 to 6. small and chajfj, crowded into a small capitate dark brown 

 head which is a half-inch or less long : bracts scale-like, often setaceously 

 pointed, sometimes inconspicuous, never longer than the head : perigi/nium 

 ovate or ovate-lanceolate, somewhat colored, narrowed into a serrate beak about as 

 long as the bodj, nerved, narrowlij winged, about the length of the acutish sr(de or a 

 little longer and about as ivide. — C. Bonplandii, var. minor, Olney. Mountains 

 of Colorado and Utah. The species, which is South American, evidently occurs 

 in California, and the C. tenuirostris, Olney in herb , collected in Wyoming by 

 C. C. Parry, may be the same. It is lower and stiffer in habit than the variety 

 with larger heads (which are lighter colored) and a greenish peri;_nniuui. 

 Forms of this species appear to unite it with the next, but in general they 

 may be distinguished by the narrowly winged perigynium. 



79. C. festiva, Dew. Cespitose: culms usually slender, 6 inches to 2^ 

 feet high, longer than the flat stem-leaves: spikes 6 to 15, roundish, small, densely 

 aggregated (occasionally somewhat loosely) into a fulvous dark brown or green 

 and brown ovoid head (which is | to 1 inch in diameter): bract usually incon- 

 spicuous, sometimes as long as the head, narrow: perigynium van/ing from 

 brond-ovafeat base to long-lanceolate, greenish, cons/)icuousli/ iringed (half its wirlth 

 or more being consumed iu the thin margins), narrowed s^radually into a 



