Genus 18. 



SEDGE FAMILY. 



44' 



242. Carex gigantea Rudge. Large Sedge. 

 Fig. ii 09. 



C. gigantea Rudge, Trans. Linn. Soc. 7 : 99. pi. 10. f. 2. 1804. 

 Carex grandis Bailey, Mem. Torr. Club 1:13. 1889. 



Glabrous, culms slender, erect, 2°-3° high, long- 

 stoloniferous. Leaves rather dark green, elongated, 

 3$"-8" wide, the uppermost sometimes surpassing the 

 culm; lower bracts similar to the leaves, much overtop- 

 ping the culm, strongly sheathing; staminate spikes 1-3, 

 sessile or peduncled; pistillate spikes 2-5, all stalked or 

 the upper sessile, cylindric, i'-j' long, about 1' thick, 

 sometimes staminate at the summit; perigynia much 

 swollen at the base, and 2"-3" in diameter, 6"-g" long, 

 many-nerved, spreading at right angles at maturity, 3-4 

 times as long as the scarious lanceolate acuminate or 

 aristate scale, abruptly contracted into a subulate 

 2-toothed beak 2-3 times as long as body; stigmas 3. 



In swamps, Delaware to Kentucky and Missouri, south to 

 Florida, Louisiana, and Texas. June-Aug. 



19. CYMOPHYLLUS Mackenzie. 

 A perennial sedge with short rootstocks and flattened culms. Culms with four to six 

 overlapping striate bladeless sheaths, and after flowering developing one large blade-bearing 

 leaf without sheath, ligule or midrib, and with undulate margins appearing minutely serrulate. 

 Spike one, bractless, androgynous, the flowers monoecious, solitary in the axils of the scales. 

 Perianth none. Staminate flower of three stamens, the filaments filiform. Pistillate flowers 

 of a single pistil, style and three stigmas enveloped by a bladder-like perigynium. Achene 

 triangular. Racheola often developed. [Greek, referring to the undulate-margined leaves.] 



A monotypic genus of the southeastern United States. 



i. Cymophyllus Fraseri (Andr.) Mackenzie. 

 Fraser's Sedge. Fig. 11 10. 



Carex Fraseri Andr. Bot. Rep. pi. 639. 181 1. 

 Carex Fraseriana Sims, Bot. Mag. pi. 1391. 181 1. 



Glabrous, culms smooth, slender, reclining, 6'-i8' 

 long. Developed leaves 8'-i6' long, i'-2' wide, 

 without midvein, sheath or ligule, perfectly flat, firm, 

 spreading, finely many-nerved, subacute at the apex, 

 their margins usually finely crumpled in drying, one 

 to a culm, developed only after flowering; lower 

 culm-leaves reduced to clasping basal sheaths ; spike 

 solitary, bractless, androgynous, i'-l' long, the pistil- 

 late portion dense, nearly ¥ in diameter in fruit ; 

 perigynia elliptic-ovoid, milk-white at maturity, di- 

 verging, thin and somewhat swollen, faintly nerved, 

 2V-3" long and rather more than 1" in diameter, 

 tipped with a short nearly truncate beak ; scales 

 ovate, obtusish, much shorter than the perigynia ; 

 stigmas 3. 



In rich woods, southwestern Virginia, West Virginia, 

 eastern Tennessee and North Carolina. May-July. 



Family 12. ARACEAE Neck. Act. Acad. Theod. Palat. 2: 462. 1770. 



Arum Family. 



Herbs mostly with basal long-petioled simple or compound leaves, and spatha- 

 ceous inflorescence, the spathe enclosing or subtending a spadix. Rootstock 

 tuberous or a corm, in our species mostly with an acrid or pungent sap. Spadix 

 very densely flowered, the staminate flowers above, the pistillate below, or the 

 plants wholly dioecious, or with perfect flowers in some species. Perianth want- 

 ing, or of 4-6 scale-like segments. Stamens 4-10 in our species; filaments very 

 short ; anthers 2-celled, commonly with a thick truncate connective, the sacs open- 

 ing by dorsal pores or slits. Ovary 1 -several-celled ; ovules i-several in each cell ; 

 style short or wanting ; stigma terminal, mostly minute and sessile. Fruit a berry 

 or utricle. Seeds various. Endosperm copious, sparse or none. 



About 105 genera and 900 species, mostly of tropical regions, a few in the temperate zones. 

 Flowers without a perianth. 



Flowers monoecious or dioecious, borne at thebase of the spadix. 1. Arisaema. 



Flowers monoecious, covering the whole spadix. 2. Peltandra. 



