CTPEKACEiE. (SEDfiE FAMILY.) 541 



Una. — Culms flliform, I°- 1^° high, and, like the sheaths of the linear leaves, 

 roughened downward. 



48. C. digitalis, Willd. Sterile spike small, sessile, or nearly so; fertile 

 spikes commonly 3, remote, very slender, loosely 5 - 8-flowered, all on long 

 bristle-like peduncles, the lowest near the base of the culm and generally re- 

 clining ; perigynia alternate, ovoid, with a short and spreading entire point, 

 twice the length of the ovate acute green-keeled scale; leaves linear, green; 

 culms 6'-12' high. — Var. giauca. Leaves and bracts wider (4"- 6"), glau- 

 cous, 3-ncrved ; fertile spikes thicker, the two upper ones approximate and short- 

 peduncled ; perigynia larger, thrice the length of the barely-pointed scale. — 

 Low grounds, Florida, and northward. 



Bracts sheathing, leafless or nearly so ; scales brown or black. 



49. C. plantaginea, Lam. Fertilespikes3-4, remote, the lowest at the 

 base of the culm, linear, ei'oct, loosely few-flowered, the peduncles mostly in- 

 cluded in the brown leafless sheaths ; perigynia oblong-obovate, short-pointed, 

 longer than the ovate acute black scale. — Mountains of North Carolina, and 

 northward. — Leaves all radical, 1' or more wide, about as long as the slender 

 culm. 



50. C. Caroliuiana, Buckley. Fertile spikes 3, loosely 3-6-flowered, 

 remote, all on long bristle-like drooping peduncles, which are partly included 

 in the sheaths of the short bracts ; the lowest near the base of the culm ; peri- 

 gynia ovoid, short-pointed, rather longer than the oblong mucronate dark-brown 

 scale. — Table Mountain, South Carolina, Bucklaj. — Radical leaves 4" - 6" 

 wide, 3-nerved, exceeding the tufted culms. 



51. C. Baltzellii, Chapm. Sterile spike rigid, often with a few fertile 

 flowers at the base; fertile spikes 3-6, linear-cylindrical, closely many-flowered, 

 one (rarely two) on an erect peduncle which is included in a leafless sheath at 

 the base of the sterile spike, the others on long recurved or spreading radical 

 peduncles, commonly sterile at the summit ; perigynia obovate-oblong, pubescent, 

 abruptly short-pointed, as long as the obovate obtuse mucronate reddish-brown 

 scale. — Dry sandy soil. Middle Florida. — Leaves all radical, 2" - 4" wide, 

 glaucous, very rough above, longer than the culm. 



= = Perigynia with few and scattered nerves, commonly a little inflated, straight- 

 beaked or pointed : spikes all, or the lowest, on long and mostly nodding peduncles : 

 brads leafy. 

 t Spikes linear or flliform, loosely flowered ; perigynia lanceolate or oblong. 



52. C. venusta, Dew. Fertile spikes 3-5, linear (I'-l J' long), remote, 

 or the two upper ones approximate and erect; perigynia oblong, acute at each 

 end, rough-hairy, notched at the orifice, twice as long as the oblong obtuse 

 scale. — Low banks of streams, Florida to North Carolina. — Culms 2° - 3° 

 high. Sheaths of the linear leaves very rough. 



53. C debilis, Michx. Fertile spikes 3-5, remote, filiform, drooping ; 

 perigynia alternate, lanceolate, smooth, acute at the base, tapering into a 2-cleft 

 beak, twice as long as the oblong obtuse one-nerved scale ; sheaths smooth. — ' 



46 



