CYPERACE^E. (SEDGE FAMILY.) 541 



lina. Culms filiform, 1- l high, and, like the sheaths of the linear leaves, 

 roughened downward. 



48. C. digitalis, Willd. Sterile spike small, sessile, or nearly so; fertile 

 spikes commonly 3, remote, very slender, loosely 5-8-flowered, all on long 

 bristle-like peduncles, the lowest near the base of the culm and generally re- 

 clining ; perigynia alternate, ovoid, with a short and spreading entire point, 

 twice the length of the ovate acute green-keeled scale; leaves linear, green; 

 culms 6'- 12' high. Var. GLAUCA. Leaves and bracts wider (4" -6"), glau- 

 cous, 3-nerved ; fertile spikes thicker, the two upper ones approximate and short- 

 peduncled; perigynia larger, thrice the length of the barely-pointed scale. 

 Low grounds, Florida, and northward. 



Bracts sheathing, leafless or nearly so : scales brown or black. 



49. C. plantaginea, Lam. Fertile spikes 3-4, remote, the lowest at the 

 base of the culm, linear, erect, loosely few-flowered, the peduncles mostly in- 

 cluded in the brown leafless sheaths ; perigynia oblong-obovate, short-pointed, 

 longer than the ovate acute black scale. Mountains of North Carolina, and 

 northward. Leaves all radical, 1' or more wide, about as long as the slender 

 culm. 



50. C. Caroliniana, Buckley. Fertile spikes 3, loosely 3 - 6-flowered, 

 remote, all on long bristle-like drooping peduncles, which are partly included 

 in the sheaths of the short bracts ; the lowest near the base of the culm ; peri- 

 gynia ovoid, short-pointed, rather longer than the oblong mucronate dark-brown 

 scale. Table Mountain, South Carolina, Buckley. Radical leaves 4'' -6" 

 wide, 3-nerved, exceeding the tufted culms. 



51. C. Baltzellii, Chapm. Sterile spike rigid, often with a few fertile 

 flowers at the base; fertile spikes 3-6, linear-cylindrical, closely many-flowered, 

 one (rarely two) on an erect peduncle which is included in a leafless sheath at 

 the base of the sterile spike, the others on long recurved or spreading radical 

 peduncles, commonly sterile at the summit ; perigynia obovate-oblong, pubescent, 

 abruptly short-pointed, as long as the obovate obtuse mucronate reddish-brown 

 scale. Dry sandy soil, Middle Florida. Leaves all radical, 2 ff - 4' r wide, 

 glaucous, very rough above, longer than the culm. 



= = Perigynia with few and scattered nerves, commonly a little inflated, straight- 

 beaked or pointed: spikes all, or the lowest, on long and mostly nodding peduncles : 

 bracts leafy. 

 t Spikes linear or filiform, loosely flowered : perigynia lanceolate or obkng. 



52. C. venusta, Dew. Fertile spikes 3-5, linear (!'-!' long), remote, 

 or the two upper ones approximate and erect ; perigynia oblong, acute at each 

 end, rough-hairy, notched at the orifice, twice as long as the oblong obtuse 

 scale. Low banks of streams, Florida to North Carolina. Culms 2 -3 

 high. Sheaths of the linear leaves very rough. 



53. C. debilis, Michx. Fertile spikes 3-5, remote, filiform, drooping ; 

 perigynia alternate, lanceolate, smooth, acute at the base, tapering into a 2 -cleft 

 beak, twice as long as the oblong obtuse one-nerved scale ; sheaths smooth. 



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