280 BOTANY. 



ing to a rough point, shorter than the perigynia ; 4 specimens of the Expe- 

 dition collection received from Washington without number or ticket. 



Caeex spJ— 1£° high, smoothish; leaves (broken) $' wide; bracts 

 evaginate, the lower male filiform, exceeding the spikelet, the female broad, 

 plane, exceeding the culm; male spikes 3-4, overlapping, uppermost 1' long; 

 female spikes 1-2, oblong or cylindrical, 1' long, 3" wide, 1-3' below the 

 male, 1-2' apart, occasionally with an empty bract 4-8' below the spikes ; 

 perigynia (very young) ovate, spreading, tapering to a cylindrical beak, 

 with short teeth, delicately nerved ; stigmas 3 ; scales 3-nerved, purple, with 

 pale margins and midnerve, the male oblanceolate obtuse, the female lan- 

 ceolate or ovate, shorter than the perigynia; vagina of empty bract 6" long. — 

 "Willow Spring, Arizona, Rothrock (231). 



Caeex sp.? — 2 C high or more, stout, glaucous, smooth and spongy 

 below, slightly scabrous above, and with the leaves thickly nodose-reticu- 

 lated; leaves 3" wide, much longer than the culm; male spikes 4, over- 

 lapping, about 1' long, rarely with a few female flowers at top and at bot- 

 tom; female spikes 2, f-lj' long, §' wide, about 9" below the male, 1-4' 

 apart; sometimes staminate at top, the lowest on a short peduncle; bracts 

 of the lowest male spike shorter than the culm, clasping, with connate pur- 

 ple auricles ; bracts of the female spikes much longer than the culm, with 

 vagina? J— J' long. In the vagina of the lowest spike, the lamina opposite 

 the bract is extended above to an obtuse point. Below the female spikes 

 there is sometimes an empty bract with a vagina 9" long; perigynia (very 

 young) squarrose, broadly ovate, abruptly ending in a stout, cylindrical, 

 obliquely cut, minutely toothed, strongly nerved beak, purple at the orifice ; 

 stigmas 3 ; scales 3-nerved, purple, with pale midnerve, the male oblong 

 linear, obtuse, the female lanceolate acute, as long as the perigynia. The 

 pale fruit and purple scales give the female spikes a variegated appear- 

 ance. — Colorado (460). 



Caeex sp.? — Culm and leaves as in the last; male spikes 3-4, contigu- 

 ous, the upper 1-2' long, naked or rarely the lower with a filiform, clasping 

 bract exceeding its spikelet; fertile spikes 2, narrow-cylindrical, often stami- 

 nate to near the base, l|-2' long, 1-2 J' below the male, and about 2' apart, 

 sometimes with a lower, 4-8' distant, empty bract, the upper sessile, the lower 



