Genus 18. 



SEDGE FAMILY. 



407 



140. Carex flaccosperma Dewey. Thin-fruited 

 Sedge. Fig. 1007. 



Carex laxiflora var. (?/ mutica Torr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. 3: 



414. 1836. Not C. mutica R. Br. 1823. 

 Carex flaccosperma Dewey, Am. Journ. Sci. (II.) 2 : 245. 



1846. 



Similar to Carex grisea and C. glaucodea; slightly 

 glaucous, rather deep green, culms erect, 6'-2° high. 

 Leaves thin and flat, the basal ones 3"-o" wide, usu- 

 ally shorter than the culm, the bracts leafy, much 

 overtopping the spikes; staminate spike sessile or 

 nearly so ; pistillate spikes 2-4, 6"-is" long, 2"-3" 

 thick, densely io-40-flowered, widely separate, oblong, 

 erect, the lower slender-stalked; perigynia oblong, 

 3-angled, striate-nerved, subacute, 2i"-3" long; scales 

 broadly ovate, green, with slightly scarious margins, 

 acute, cuspidate or the upper obtuse, 2-3 times shorter 

 than the perigynia; stigmas 3. 



Southern Missouri to Texas, east to North Carolina and 

 Florida. June-July. 



141. Carex gracillima Schwein. Graceful Sedge. 



Fig. 1008. 



Carex gracillima Schwein. Ann. Lye. N. Y. 1 : 66. 1824. 

 Carex gracillima var. hmnilis Bailey, Mem. Torr. Club 

 I: 71. 1889. 



Glabrous, culms slender, erect, smooth or nearly 

 so, i°-3° high. Leaves dark green, ii"-^h" wide, 

 shorter than the culm, the basal ones wider than the 

 upper; lower bract foliaceous, sometimes overtop- 

 ping the spikes ; spikes 3-5, narrowly cylindric, usu- 

 ally densely flowered except at the base, i'-2$' long, 

 about 1 J" thick, or sometimes much reduced, filiform- 

 stalked and drooping or ascending, the upper one 

 partly or wholly staminate; perigynia ovoid-oblong, 

 slightly swollen, few-nerved, glabrous, ii" long or 

 less, rounded at apex, beakless; scales thin, ovate- 

 oblong, very obtuse or the lower cuspidate, pale, 

 scarious-margined, one-half as long as the perigynia 

 or lower nearly as long; stigmas 3. 



In moist woods and meadows, Newfoundland to Mani- 

 toba, North Carolina, Ohio and Michigan. May-July. 

 A hybrid with C. complanata occurs at Philipstown, Put- 

 nam County, N. Y. 



Carex Sullivantii Boott, is a hybrid with C. hirtifolia, 

 found in Ohio, New York and Delaware. 



142. Carex prasina Wahl. Drooping Sedge. 

 Fig. 1009. 



Carex prasina Wahl. Kongl. Vet. Acad. Handl. (II.) 24 : 



161. 1803. 

 Carex miliacea Muhl. ; Willd. Sp. PI. 4: 29-0. 1805. 



Glabrous, rather light green, culms slender, slightly 

 roughened above, sharply 3-angled, l°-2i° high. 

 Leaves shorter than or equalling the culm, flaccid, 

 roughish, i£"-2i" wide; lower bract similar, short- |l 

 sheathing, commonly overtopping the spikes ; staminate / N. 

 spike solitary, stalked, sometimes partly pistillate; pis- / \ 

 tillate spikes 2 to 4, narrowly linear-cylindric, drooping, / \ 

 the lower filiform-stalked, the upper short-stalked, i'-| 

 2*' long, 2" in diameter, many-flowered, attenuate at I / 



base' ; perigynia light green, ovate-lanceolate, triangular, VJJL-/ 

 ii"-2" long, f" wide, nerveless or nearly so, tapering 

 into a smooth minutely 2-toothed or entire beak; scales 

 ovate, acute, acuminate, or short-awned, hyaline, with 

 green midrib, shorter than the perigynia ; stigmas 3. 



In meadows and moist thickets, Maine to Michigan, 

 District of Columbia and Ohio, south in the Alleghanies to 

 Georgia. Ascends to 4200 ft. in Virginia. May-July. 



