74 



The Canadian Field-Naturalist 



[Vol. XXXIII 



C. adusta Boott, and C. Uddonii Boott, besides C. 

 aenea Fernald, all of which have been collected 

 in Canada, and at a number of remote stations. 

 Even the monotypical grex Microccphalae w^ith C. 

 capitaia L. occurs in Yukon and Alaska, extend- 

 ing eastward to Alberta, Hudson Bay and Green- 

 land. 



Among the Carices genuinae the Melananthae is 

 one of the most interesting greges ; the formae hebe- 

 taiae with their sessile spikes, and the terminal being 

 gynaecandrous resemble certain / igneae (C. alp'ina 

 Sw.), and a corresponding distribution of the sexes 

 occurs in several species of the centrales; C. airaia 

 L. and its allies. In Canada C. alpina Sw."* is 

 known from the higher mountains; C. airaia L., the 

 typical plant, has been collected at several stations 

 by James M. Macoun, notably in the mountains of 

 Alberta, Jasper Park, but a near ally of this, C. 

 ovaia Rudge (C. atraiiformis Britton) is much 

 more frequent especially on the Atlantic coast, 

 nevertheless it is absent from Greenland, where it 

 is replaced by the typical C. airaia. The very 

 evolute type C. Mertensn Presc, in which the 

 numerous spikes are gynaecandrous, is known from 

 the western districts, British Columbia and Alaska. 

 A very singular type of this grex is C. Parr\)ana 

 Dew. ; it may occur as dioecious, with a single spike; 

 which, however, seems constantly to be pistillate ; 

 or the culm is terminated by a gynaecandrous sel- 

 dom purely stiaminate or pistillate spike, while 

 there may also be one to four lateral spikes which 

 are purely pistillate. Carex Parr^ana was de- 

 scribed from specimens collected by Dr. Richard- 

 son at Hudson Bay, but has since been reported 

 2is abundant in the northern part of the prairie 

 region, extending from Portage la Prairie to near 

 the Athabasca river. From the mountains of Al- 

 berta, Jasper Park, James M. Macoun brought 

 home a splendid series of C. speciabilis Dew., 

 illustrating the various forms under which it ap- 

 pears, when inhabiting different altitudes, and sta- 

 tions with environment of varied nature. These 

 interesting forms together with the typical plant 

 have, so far, only been observed in Washington, 

 Mt. Paddo, where they were discovered by Mr. 

 Wilhelm Suksdorf. A species of somewhat re- 

 markable habit is C. microchacia nob., which John 



■•The name C. alpina Sw. has been replaced by 

 C. Halleri (lunn., in Gray'.s New Manual of Botany, 

 because Schinz and Theiiung have adojited ihi.s 

 name (Bull, d'herb. Boi.s.sier, Vol. 7, ]907>. How- 

 ever Gunner did only "pro tempore" proi)Ose this 

 »peci('S, an<l without his name as author. After liis 

 df-ath his h^rljarium was examined, and as staled 

 by K<-veral Swcrlish authors, Gunner's material con- 

 tained not only C alidna, but also ('. Norvi-Kica, 

 thu.s the riamr- Halleri became invalidated. No other 

 authors have, so far, called the species C. Halleri, 

 and surely the old masters knew they had some 

 Bood reason for IgnorinK this name. 



Macoun collected in Yukon; in this species the 

 culm is phyllopodic, otherwise the plant resembles 

 somewhat C. Tolmiei Boott, and C. speciabilis 

 Dew., but is, however, of a much more robust 

 habit. 



Passing to the Microrh^nchae, Canada is very 

 rich in species of this grex, and several of these 

 are of abundant occurrence; Carex siricia Lam., 

 vulgaris Fr., acutina Bail., variabilis Bail., and 

 lenticularis Michx., are perhaps the best known. 

 Typical C. vulgaris Fr., is known from Alaska, 

 British Columbia and from the eastern provinces, 

 but the variety lipocarpa, nob., is much more fre- 

 quent, and readily to be distinguished by the narrow 

 leaves and the early deciduous perigynia; this var- 

 iety abounds on Vancouver Island, in British Col- 

 umbia and Yukon at various elevations. The var- 

 iety stolonifera Hoppe has been collected in 

 Labrador. Another and quite striking variety is 

 limnophila nob., which resembles C. rufina Drej., 

 the culm being low, curved and the spikes con- 

 tiguous with the terminal occasionally gynaecan- 

 drous. It has been found on St. Paul Island, 

 Bering Sea, and on a nunatak in Columbia glacier. 

 Prince William's Sound; still another variety 

 h\)drophila nob., from Yukon is a very slender 

 plant, with long stolons clothed with shining, pur- 

 plish brown scale-like leaves, the spikes are ped- 

 uncled, cylindric, dense-flowered and erect; finally 

 the variety sirictaeformis Bail, occurs in Nova 

 Scotia; it is of caespitose habit, quite tall and 

 slender with the sessile spikes remote and sub- 

 tended by short bracts. In other words C. vulgaris 

 shows in Canada the same ability to vary as is the 

 case with the European plant, but, in several re- 

 spects it varies in a different way. For instance the 

 long stipitate, strongly nerved perigynium is not 

 represented in the European plant, nor is the peri- 

 gynium early deciduous as is the case with our 

 common variety lipocarpa. 



C. aqualilis Wahlenb., has been reported from a 

 number of stations in Canada, and it is sometimes 

 accompanied by some closely allied species, in 

 Yukon by C. sphacelaia nob., and C. chionophila 

 nob. ; in the Arctic regions it is replaced by C. 

 sians Drej. While Carex rigida Good, is com- 

 mon in the Arctic regions, it has also been reported 

 from some of the higher mountains in British Col- 

 umbia, and the variety Bigelovii (Torr.) Tuckm., 

 is known from the Hudson Bay region. Two allies 

 of C. rigida: C. consimilis nob., and C. eyclocarpa 

 nob., are natives of Yukon; in the former the 

 orbicular perigynium is sharply denticulate along the 

 upper part of the margins, but the habit reminds 

 one of C. hyperborea Drej. ; in C. c\)clocarpa the 

 perigynium is turgid of a dark brownish green color 



