Genus 18. 



SEDGE FAMILY. 



399 



116. Carex vaginata Tausch. Sheathed Sedge. Fig. 983. 



Carex vaginata Tausch, Flora 557. 1821. 



Carex vaginata var. altocaulis Dewey, Am. Journ. Sci. (II.) 



41 : 227. 1866. 

 Carex saltuensis Bailey, Mem. Torr. Club 1 : 7. 1889. 

 Carex altocaulis Britton ; Brit. & Br. 111. Fl. 1: 326. 1896. 



Glabrous, light green, strongly stoloniferous, phyllo- 

 podic, culms very slender, smooth, weak, diffuse, 6'-24° 

 high. Leaves i"^24" wide, much shorter than the culm, 

 the'blades of the upper ones and of the long-sheathing 

 bracts usually very short; staminate spike long-stalked; 

 pistillate spikes 2 or 3, distant, slender-stalked or spread- 

 ing, 4"-l2" long, loosely 3-20-flowered ; perigynia 

 ovoid-oblong, 3-angled, scarcely inflated, narrowed at the 

 base, faintly nerved, about 2" long, nearly 1" thick, 

 tipped with a beak about one-fourth the length of the 

 body, the orifice purplish-tinged, 2-toothed, oblique; 

 scales oval or ovate-lanceolate, purplish-tinged, acute 

 or the upper obtuse, usually shorter than the perigynia; 

 stigmas 3. 



In boggy woods, Labrador to Alaska, northern New Eng- 

 land, New York, Michigan, Minnesota and British Columbia, Europe and Asia. June-Aug. 



Variable Sedge. 



117. Carex polymorpha Muhl. 

 Fig. 984. 



Carex polymorpha Muhl. Gram. 239. 181 7. 



Glabrous, rather dark green, from matted, elongated, 

 stout rootstocks, culms stiff, aphyllopodic and strongly 

 purplish-tinged at base, strictly erect, smooth or nearly 

 so, l°-2° tall. Leaves flat, ii"-2" wide, nearly erect, 

 those of fertile culm short; bracts long-sheathing; 

 staminate spike 1 or rarely 2, long-stalked; pistillate 

 spikes commonly I or 2, erect, short-stalked, densely 

 12-25-flowered or sometimes looser at the base, j"-i¥ 

 long, 3"-4" thick, often staminate at the summit; peri- 

 gynia ovoid-oblong, obscurely 3-angled, 24" long, \\" in 

 diameter, the beak one-half as long as the body, the 

 orifice oblique; scales red-brown, obtuse or the lower 

 acute, somewhat shorter than the perigynia; stigmas 3. 



Wet meadows or borders of woods, southern Maine to 

 northern New Jersey, south to North Carolina. Local. 

 Ascends to 2000 ft. in Pennsylvania. June-Aug. 



118. Carex plantaginea Lam. Plantain-leaved 

 Sedge. Fig. 985. 



Carex plantaginea Lam. Encycl. 3: 392. 1789. 



Glabrous, rather dark green, culms slender, erect or 

 reclining, 6'-2° long. Leaves of sterile culms s"— 13" 

 wide, persistent through the winter, those of fertile 

 culms with rudimentary blades, the sheaths strongly 

 reddened; bracts short; staminate spike long-stalked, 

 purple; pistillate spikes 3 or 4, erect, widely separated, 

 all stalked, 1' or less long, loosely 4-8-flowered, the 

 stalks of the upper ones enclosed in the sheaths ; peri- 

 gynia oblong-elliptic, short-beaked, many-nerved, il"- 

 2I" long, nearly 1" thick, longer than the ovate cuspi- 

 date scales ; stigmas 3. 



In woods, New Brunswick and Ontario to Manitoba, 

 south to North Carolina and Illinois. Ascends to 2100 ft. 

 in Virginia. April-June. 



