28 



" spikes sub-erect, lax- flowered^ elongated, peduncles often shorter 

 and stronger, scales shorter, culm rough." The scales are longer 



than the perlgynium, but obtuse or muticous, and the spikes are 

 usually darker colored than in the species. Greenland, and 

 probably adjacent America. 



37.— Carex flava, L. Sp. PI. 1. 975 (1753), V. s. Hb. Linn. 



C. foliosa. Gaud. Agr. Helv. ii. 19J teste Koch. 



C, uetliaea, Sut. Helv. ii. 251, teste Koch. 



C. flava, forma lepidocarpa and androgyna, Olney, Exsicc^ 

 fasc. iii. Nos. 26 and 27 (1871), v. s. 



As compared with its varieties, C, flava h distinguished by 

 its sessile or nearly sessile staminate spike, the contiguous and n 



sessile pistillate spikes, the large, long-beaked, and much reflexed 

 perlgynium, the broad and abruptly divaricate bract, the broad 

 and flat leaves, and the conspicuous yellow color of the whole 

 plant. Europe, North America. 



The various forms of this perplexing species have been sin- 

 gularly misunderstood and confounded. This is particularly 



■ 



true of the var. CEderi, the name' having been transferred in re- 

 cent years to a plant very different from the one originally char- 

 acterized. A prolonged and careful study of the species in many 

 herbaria discloses the fact that the American forms differ from 

 the European, and enables me to present, with considerable 

 confidence, the following arrangement: 



Var. ELATIOR, Schlecht. Fl. Berol. i. 477 (1823), v. s. Hb, 

 Berol. 



C. flava, Host, Gram. Austr. 1. 48, t. 6},, f. 4, v. t 



C. lepidoearpa, Tausch, Flora, 1834, 129. 



C. Lipsiensis, Peterm. P"]. Lips. 58 (1838), v. s. Hb. Berol. 



C. pyriformis, F. Schultz, Jahr, xv. 122, teste F. Schultz. 



C. flava, var. lepidocarpa, Anderss. Cyp. Scand. 25 (1849), 

 and many authors since. 



C. Marssoni, Auerswald, Rot. Zeit. 1852, 409. 



C. flava, var, Marssoni, Marsson, Fl. Neu-Vorp. 537 (1869), 



Staminate spike long-peduncled, pistillate spikes scattered or 

 remote and commonly not more than two and the lowest one 

 usually peduncled, perlgynium smaller, straight or but slightly 



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