cyperace^e. (sedge family.) 571 



4. S. pauciflbra, Muhl. Somewhat downy or smoothish ; culms slender 

 (9'- 18' high) ; leaves narrowly linear; clusters few-flowered, the lower lateral 

 ones when present peduncled ; bracts ciliate ; stamens 3 ; achenium globose, papil- 

 los&rovghened, white : the disk a narrow ring hearing 3 pairs of minute tubercles. 

 — S. New England to W. New York (rare), and more common southward. 



5. S. vei'ticillata, Muhl. Smooth; culms simple, slender (4'- 12' high), 

 terminated by an interrupted spike of 4-6 rather distant sessile and small 

 clusters ; bracts minute ; leaves linear; stamens 1 or 2 ; achenium rough-wrinkled 

 with short elevated ridges, globular-triangular; the disk obsolete. — W. New 

 York and Penn. to Michigan and southward: rare. — Plant faintly sweet- 

 scented ; achenium small, jf" long. 



15. CAREX, L. Sedge. (PL 5, 6.) 



Staminate and pistillate flowers separated (monoecious), either borne together 

 in the same spike (andro'gi/nous), or in separate spikes on the same stem, very 

 rarely on distinct plants [dioecious). Scales of the spikes equally imbricated 

 around the axis, each subtending a single staminate or pistillate flower. Sta- 

 mens 3, rarely 2. Ovary enclosed in an inflated sac (composed of either one or 

 two inner scales (hractlets) united by their margins), forming a rounded or an- 

 gular bladdery sac (perigynium) , which encloses the lenticular, plano-convex, or 

 triangular achenium, tipped with more or less of the persistent (rarely jointed) 

 base of the style. Stigmas 2 or .3, long, projecting from the narrow orifice of 

 the perigynium. — Perennial herbs, chiefly flowing in spring and maturing in 

 summer, frequently growing in wet places, often in dense tufts. Culms trian- 

 gular, bearing the spikes in the axils of green and leaf-like or scale-like bracts, 

 and terminal ; commonly with sheaths at the base which enclose more or less of 

 the stalks of the spikes. Leaves grassy, usually rough on the margins and keel. 

 (A classical name, of obscure signification ; derived by some from careo, to 

 want, the upper spikes being mostly sterile ; and by others from Kfipco, to cut, on 

 account of the sharp leaves.) 



Contributed for the first edition of this work, and revised for the second, bv 

 John Cakey, Esq. ; with some present additions, from recent discoveries, and 

 a few alterations, chiefly from the subsequent investigations of the late Dr. 

 Francis Boott, published in his magnificent Illustrations of the genus Carex, 

 and from notes furnished by Wm. Boott, Esq. 



ABRIDGED SYNOPSIS OF THE SECTIONS. 



A. Spike solitary and terminal, simple, dioecious or androgynous : bracts small, colored and 



Bcale-like. — (This division, retained for the convenience of students, is merely artificial, 

 and combines species having no real natural affinity.) PSYLLOPHORJE, Loiseleur. 

 § 1. Spike direcious, or with a few staminate flowers at its base. No. 1-2. 

 2. Spike androgynous, staminate at the summit. No. 3-6. 



Spike androgynous, staminate at the base. No. 36 and 138 may be sought here. 



B. Spike solitary, single, androgynous, staminate at the summit: bracts and scales of the fer- 



tile flowers green and leaf-like. Stigmas 3. PIIYLLOSTACHYS, Torr. & Gr. No. 7-9. 



C. Spikes several or numerous, androgynous (occasionally dicecious in No. 11 and 33), sessile, 



forming compact or more or less interrupted, sometimes paniculate, compound or decom- 

 pound spikes. Stigmas 2 YIGNEA, Beauv. 



