126 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



apex tipped with a short entire point ; scale ovate, acute or 

 mucronate, thin, white, about one-half the length of the 

 perig3mium. 



Readily distinguished by the n^^ked or unprotected appearance 

 of the well-rounded perigynia. 



A small form occurs which is 4-6' high, rather rigid, with 

 3-5 spikelets and the bristle shaped bract of I he lowest spikelet 

 often wanting. 



Svramps and wet places. Not rare. June. 



2. Carex chordorhiza Ehrh. 



Stems 6'- 1 8' high, erect, smooth, naked, or the prominent 

 basal sheaths terminating in narrow blades i^'-l' in length ; leaf- 

 stems branching and rooting at the base, springing from the 

 large creeping rootstock, 3-5' high ; leaves variable in length, 

 the lower i'-2' long, those above, usually partly tufted, 3'-6' in 

 length, erect or spreading, 1" wide or less, flat or involute, rough 

 margined ; spikelets 3- 5, aggregated in an ovoid head 3"-6" long, 

 brown; perigynia elliptical-ovate, biconvex, nerved, 1|" long, 

 contracted into a short entire or notched beak about the length 

 of the ovate, acute brown scale ; bracts scale-like and inconspicu- 

 ous except the lowest which is sometimes short setaceous. 



Easily determined by its chord-like, extensively creeping 

 rootstock. 



Sphagnous swamps and swampy shores of lakes and streams. 

 Rare. July. Herkimer, Oneida and Seneca counties, and boggy 

 margins of lakes in the North woods Paine^s Catalogue. 



Inflorescence branched, the spikelets panicled or densely 

 clustered. 



Perigynia biconvex, blackish, shining 1 



Perigynia compressed-ovate, not shining vuljnnoidea. 



1 Perigynia ovate, stij)itate • teretiuscula. 



1 Perig3^nia obovate, sessile decomposita. 



3. Oarex teretiuscula Good. 



Stems 18'-30' high, slender, erect, obtusely angled, rough near 



the spike; leaves usually shorter than the culm, 1"-1|" wide, 



somewhat involute when dry, rough on the edges ; spike 



panicled, l'-2' long, brown; spikelets small, crowded on short 



