3 86 



CYPERACEAE. 



Vol. I. 



77. Carex xerantica Bailey. White-scaled 

 Sedge. Fig. 944. 



C. xerantica Bailey, Coult. Bot. Gaz. 17: 151. 1892. 

 C. foenea var. xerantica Kukenthal, Pflanzenreich 38 : 

 205. 1909. 



Culms caespitose, stiff, i°-2° tall, strictly erect, 

 smooth or little roughened above. Leaves i"-il" 

 wide, somewhat involute in drying, clustered toward 

 the base, shorter than the culm; spikes 3-6, ellipsoid, 

 densely many-flowered, close together or the lower 

 slightly separated, 4"^7" long, 24" in diameter, taper- 

 ing at base, the staminate flowers basal ; bracts scale- 

 like; perigynia lanceolate-ovate, pale, 2"-2|" long, 

 i"-ii" wide, closely appressed, nerveless or nearly 

 so on inner face, bright yellow at base, wing-mar- 

 gined, the rough tapering beak shorter than' the body ; 

 scales with broad, silvery white margins and darker 

 center, acute, equalling or a trifle longer than the 

 perigynia and rather wider; stigmas 2. 



Prairies, western Manitoba to Athabasca and Kan- 

 sas. May-July. 



78. Carex adusta Boott. Browned Sedge. 

 Fig. 945- 



Carex adusta Boott; Hook. FI. Bor. Am. 2: 213. 1840. 

 C. pinguis Bailey, Bull. Geog. Surv. Minn. 3: 22. 1887. 



Culms stout, stiff, erect, smooth, i4 0j 24° tall, 

 caespitose. Leaves i"-ii" wide, long-pointed, shorter 

 than the culm ; bracts subulate, tapering from a broad 

 nerved base, the lower 1 or 2 usually elongated ; 

 spikes 3-15, subglobose or short-oval, several-flow- 

 ered, 3"-6" long, 2"s" wide, densely clustered and 

 apparently confluent, or slightly separated, brownish 

 in age ; staminate flowers basal ; perigynia broadly 

 ovate, firm, narrowly wing-margined, 2"-2i" long, 

 i"-ii" wide, narrowed into a 2-toothed rough beak, 

 several-nerved on the outer face, nerveless on the 

 inner, loosely ascending ; scales ovate, acute or acumi- 

 nate, about equalling the perigynia in length and 

 width; achene 1" broad; stigmas 2. 



In dry soil, Newfoundland to southern Maine, Michi- 

 gan, Minnesota and northwestward. June- July. 



79. Carex praticbla Rydb. Northern Meadow Sedge. Fig. 946. 



1841. 



Carex pratensis Drejer, Rev. Crit. Car. 24. 



Not Host, 1797. 

 C. praticola Rydb. Mem. N. Y. Bot. Gard. 1 : 84. 1900. 



Light green; culms slender, erect when young, 

 the summit later nodding, slightly roughened 

 above, caespitose, io'-2° tall. Leaves l"-i" wide, 

 shorter than the culm; lower bract bristle-form, 

 usually short ; head flexuous and moniliform ; 

 spikes 2-6, oblong, usually clavate at base, sepa- 

 rated or the upper contiguous, silvery-brown and 

 shining, 3"-8" long, about 24" in diameter, several- 

 flowered, the staminate flowers basal; perigynia 

 lanceolate, closely appressed, thin, pale, nerveless 

 or nearly so on the inner face, few-nerved on the 

 outer, 2i"-3$" long, nearly 1" wide, wing-mar- 

 gined, tapering into a beak nearly as long as the 

 body; scales brownish-tinged, with very broad 

 white-hyaline margins, obtuse to acute, about as 

 long and as wide as the perigynia. 



Northern Maine to western Ontario, Michigan and 

 Oregon, north to Greenland and Alaska, south in the 

 Rocky Mountains to Colorado. Summer. 



