54 Muhlenbergia, Volume 5 



base, the upper sheath 6-9 em. long, the blades flat, 3-6 mm- 

 wide, 7-14-cm. long, very short-tapering, roughened -at apex! 

 terminal spike staminate or often developing a few perigynia, 

 sessile or short peduneled, 8-15111111. long, 3-5 mm. wide, the 

 scales oblong-lanceolate, abruptly acute, brown with lighter mid- 

 rib and hyaline margins; pistillate spikes four or five, the upper 

 two or three sessile or short peduneled, and with staminate 

 spike closely aggregated, the third or fourth somewhat separ- 

 ate and peduneled, and the lowest 9-15 cm. distant, erect, and 

 strongly peduneled, the spikes oblong, 8-20 mm. long, 6-9111111. 

 wide, rounded or somewhat attenuate at base, containing 15-4Q 

 spreading-ascending perigynia in several-many ranks: bracts 

 exceeded by the inflorescence, long sheathed, the lowest resemb- 

 ling the upper stem leaf, the several next reduced, the upper- 

 most becoming scale-like: scales narrowly ovate, acute to cus- 

 pidate, narrower and shorter than the perigynia, brown with 

 lighter midrib, the margins narrowly hyaline: perigynia nar- 

 rowly ovate, much flattened, 5111111. long, 2 mm. wide or nearly 

 so, obscurely nerved, remotely ciliate-serrulate on the margins 

 above, green and brown mottled, rounded at base, abruptly con- 

 tracted into a slightly bidentate beak one-fourth to one-third the 

 length of the whole: achenes triangular, obovoid, 1.75 mm. long, 

 1 mm. wide, about half the width of the perigynia: stigmas 

 three. 



No. 9429, collected August nth, in a canyon at the head 

 of the South Fork of the Humboldt, Elko county, Nevada, ele- 

 vation 8700 feet. Type in the herbarium of K. K. Mackenzie. 



To this species is also to be referred S. Watson's 1255, col- 

 lected in August, 1869, in Cottonwood canyon, Utah, now in 

 the herbarium of Columbia University. 



The present species is closely related to ( arex luzulaefolia 



VV. Boott, and to Carex ablata Bailey, as well as to several other 



rare and local western species, several of which are but little 



kllOWn. Frotn the .above tWO species it may be distinguished 



Follows: 



