231 



The genera recognized are Schoenoxiphium with six species all 

 natives of Africa ; Kobresia with twenty-nine species mostly 

 natives of Asia, two only reaching North America ; Uncinia with 

 twenty-four species, chiefly South American and Australasian, 

 but with two or three species reaching tropical North America ; 

 and Carex with 798 species, some 282 of which are found in 

 North America. 



Of course, Carex is the genus with which North American 

 botanists will be chiefly interested, and when one finds that fewer 

 North American species are given than were recognized by Prof. 

 Bailey more than twenty years ago, he becomes doubtful whether 

 the learned author has adequately treated the genus as repre- 

 sented on this continent. This doubt is strongly increased when 

 one notes the large number of North American species to which 

 reference is made, but with which the author is not acquainted ; 

 and is certainly not lessened when one further notes the few speci- 

 mens of many critical species seen by the author. The fact seems 

 to be that the author's material of many North American species 

 was hopelessly inadequate, and in many groups insufficient to 

 enable him to properly understand them. In dealing with these 

 groups it would naturally be expected that some slight attention 

 would have been paid to the more recent treatments given them 

 by American authors, but comparatively little has been. As a 

 result we have such monstrosities as Carex straminea with nine 

 recognized varieties and seven forms ; almost all the varieties 

 being more well-marked and more distinct from one another than 

 are Carex lepori7ia L. and the plant treated as Carex petasata 

 Dew., which are recognized as distinct species ! Similar but less 

 pronounced unnatural arrangements are found in dealing with 

 other species. 



The main division, too, of the species is archaic in the 

 extreme. Who would have believed it possible at the present 

 time for an expert on the genus to divide it into groups depend- 

 ing on whether there were one or many spikes. Yet this is 

 exactly the basis of the main division of the genus, and as a 

 result we have species like Carex exilis Dewey, Carex Fraseri 

 An dr., Carex Geyeri Boott, and many others torn from their 



