574 CYPEKACE^E. (SEDGE FAMILY.) 



7. C. Willden6vii, Schk. Sterile flowers 4 - 8, closely imbricated ; peri- 

 gynia 6-9, somewhat alternate, oblong, rough on the angles and tapering beak; 

 achenium oblong, triangular, finely clotted ; stig?nas downy. — Copses, Mass. to 

 N. Virginia and westward. 



8. C. Steud61ii, Kunth. Sterile flowers 10-15, rather loosely imbricated 

 into a linear (apparently distinct) spike; perigynia 2-3, roundish-obovoid, smooth, 

 with a long and abrupt rough beak ; achenium roundish, obscurely triangular, very 

 minutely dotted; stigmas downy. (C. Jamesii, Schw.) — Woody hillsides, N. 

 New York to Illinois and Kentucky. 



9. C. Backii, Boott. Sterile flowers 3, inconspicuous; perigynia 2-4, loose, 

 globose-ovoid, with a conical beak, smooth throughout. ; achenium globose-pyriform, 

 scarcely dotted ; stigmas smooth. — Rocky hills, W. Massachusetts (Mount Tom, 

 Prof. Whitney), and N. New York to Ohio, Lake Superior, and northward. — 

 Culms generally shorter, and the leafy scales broader and more conspicuous, 

 than in the last two. 



C. Spikes several or numerous, androgynous (rarely dioecious), sessile, forming a 

 compact or more or less interrupted sometimes paniculate-compound inflores- 

 cence : stigmas 2 : achenium lenticular. ViGNliA, Beauv. 



§ 1. Spikes approximated, the staminate and pistillate flowers variously situated: 

 perigynia plano-convex, nerved, with a rough slightly toothed beak : bracts 

 light brown, resembling the scales, or with a prolonged point, shorter than 

 the (at maturity) brown and chaffy spikes. — Siccate. 



10. C. bromoides, Schk. Spikes 4 -6, alternate, oblong-lanceolate, some of 

 the central ones wholly fertile ; perigynia erect, narrow-lanceolate with a tapering 

 point, solid and spongy at the base, longer than the lanceolate scale ; style jointed 

 at the base. — Swamps : common. — Slender, occasionally dioecious. 



11. C. sicc&ta, Dew. Spikes 4-8, ellipsoid, the uppermost and commonly 

 1 -3 of the lowest fertile below, the intermediate ones frequently all. staminate; peri- 

 gynia ovate-lanceolate, compressed, with a long rather abrupt beak, about the 

 length of the scale ; style minutely hairy. (C. pallida, C. A. Meyer.) — Sandy 

 plains, New England to Illinois, and northwestward. 



12. C. distieha, Huds. Spikes numerous, short and ovoid, the upper or mid- 

 dle ones frequently almost all staminate, the lower principally or entirely fertile; peri- 

 gynia ovate-lanceolate, the margins not united to the top, leaving a deep cleft 

 on the outer side ; scale ovate, pointed, nearly the length of the perigynium. 

 (C. intermedia, Good. C. Sartwe'llii, Dew., and former editions.) — Seneca Co., 

 New York (Sartwell) to Illinois, Wisconsin, and northward. (Eu.) 



§ 2. Spikes pistillate below, staminate at the summit. 

 * Perigynia of a thick and corky texture, with a short 2-toothed roughly margined 

 beak, nerved towards the base, dark chestnut-brown and polished at maturity : 

 spikes decompound, paniculate : scales light brown, with white membrana- 

 ceous margins ; the bracts at the base resembling them, and with a short 

 bristly prolongation. — Paniculate. 



13. C. teretiuscula, Good. Spikes with short appressed branches, 

 crowded in a slender spiked panicle ; perigynia ovate, unequally biconvex, short- 

 stalked, with 3-5 short nerves on the outer side near the broad somewhat heart-shaped 



