410 



CYPERACEAE. 



Vol. I. 



149. Carex debilis Michx. White-edged Sedge. 

 Fig. 1016. 



Carex debilis Michx. FI. Bor. Am. 2: 172. 1803. 



C. debilis var. pubera A. Gray, Man. Ed. 5, 593. 1867. 



C. debilis var. prolixa Bailey, Proc. Am. Acad. 22 : 105. 1886. 



Culms slender, slightly rough above, lax or erect, 

 i°-3° high. Leaves shorter than culm, light green, 

 i"-ii" wide; lower bracts similar to the culm-leaves, 

 the sheaths glabrous; staminate spike more or less 

 stalked ; pistillate spikes 2-4, narrowly linear, i'-z' long, 

 ii"-2" wide, not approximate or but little so, weakly 

 erect or drooping on slender peduncles, rather loosely 

 8-20-flowered ; perigynia lanceolate, sessile, glabrous or 

 puberulent, membranous, few-nerved, rather noticeably 

 inflated, 3-angled, 3"-4i" long, i" wide, tapering into 

 a subulate hyaline-tipped bidentate beak nearly 1" long ; 

 scales ovate, obtuse, strongly white-hyaline-margined, 

 one-third to one-half length of perigynia; stigmas 3. 



Woods and copses, New Jersey to Tennessee, south to 

 Florida and Texas. Probably intergrades with the next. 

 May-June. 



150. Carex flexuosa Muhl. Slender-stalked Sedge. Fig. 1017. 



Carex tenuis Rudge, Trans. Linn. Soc. 7: 97. pi. 0. 1804. 



Not J. F. Gmel. 1791. 

 Carex flexuosa Muhl.; Willd. Sp. PI. 4: 297. 1805. 

 C. debilis var. Rudgei Bailey, Mem. Torr. Club 1 : 34. 1889. 



Culms slender, rough above, erect or lax, 4'-3° high. 

 Leaves usually shorter than the culm, light green, l"-2" 

 wide ; lower bracts similar to the culm-leaves, the 

 sheaths glabrous ; staminate spike short-stalked, some- 

 times partly pistillate; pistillate spikes 2-4, narrowly 

 linear, V-2Y long, 1V-2" thick, loosely or alternately 

 12-25-flowered, filiform-stalked and spreading or droop- 

 ing or sometimes erect ; perigynia spindle-shaped, gla- 

 brous, membranous, few-nerved, from scarcely to 

 noticeably inflated, 3-angled, 2i"-3" long, less than 1" 

 thick, tapering into a short, hyaline-tipped, 2-toothed 

 beak; scales ovate or oblong, obtuse, acute or short- 

 cuspidate, scarious-margined, one-half as long as peri- 

 gynia or longer, usually rusty-tinged; stigmas 3. 



In woods, Newfoundland to Wisconsin, Virginia, the 

 mountains of North Carolina and Kentucky. Several slightly 

 differing varieties have been described. Hybridizes with C. Swanii. May-Aug. 



151. Carex arctata Boott. Drooping Wood 

 Sedge. Fig. 1018. 



Carex arctata Boott; Hook. Fl. Bor. Am. 2: 227. 1840. 

 Carex arctata Faxoni Bailey, Bot. Gaz. 13 : 87. 1888. 



Glabrous, culms slender, erect, \°-2\° high, roughjsh 

 above. Leaves flat, roughish-margined, much shorter 

 than the culm, the basal ones 24"-s" wide; staminate 

 spike solitary, short-stalked ; pistillate spikes 2-5, 

 linear, i'-3' long, 1V-2" thick, loosely 1 5-45-flo wered, 

 erect, ascending, or filiform-stalked, and at length droop- 

 ing, the lower one usually remote; perigynia lanceo- 

 late, strongly stipitate, deep green, rather strongly few- 

 nerved, narrowed at each end, ii"-2j" long, less than 

 1" thick, 3-angled, tapering into a short, hyaline-tipped, 

 2-toothed beak; scales ovate, cuspidate or short-awned, 

 about one-third shorter than the perigynia; stigmas 3. 



In dry woods and thickets, Newfoundland and Quebec to 

 Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Michigan. May- June. 



Carex Knieskernii Dewey, is probably a hybrid with C. 

 castanea, C. arctata also hybridizes with C. Swanii, 



