526 CTPERACE^. (sedge FAMILY.) 



86. C. Pennsylvdnica, Lam. Sterile spike commonly on a short stalk, 

 fertile 1-3, usually 2, approximate, nearly sessile, ovoid, 4 - ^-flowered, the lowest 

 commonly with a colored scale-like long-awned bract ; perigynia roundish-ovoid, with 

 a short and abrupt minutely-toothed beak about the length of the ovate pointed chest- 

 nut-colored scale. (C. marginata, Muhl.) — Dry vfoods and hill-sides, New Eng- 

 land to Penn., Illinois, and northward. 



87. C. varia, Muhl. Sterile spike sessile; fertile 2-3, mostly 3, distinct, on 

 very short stalks, ovoid, 6 - lO-ftowered ; the lowest, and sometimes the 2 lower, 

 with green leaf-like bracts ; perigynia obovoid, unth an abrupt distinctly toothed beak, 

 about the length of the ovate pointed light-brown scale. (C. Pennsylvanica, var. 

 Muhlenbergii, Gray, Gram. ^ Cyp.) — Dry wooded hills; comiifon, especially 

 northward. Closely resembles the last; but has wider, shorter, and more rigid 

 glaacous leaves. 



88. C. PEiscox, Jacq. Sterile spike club-shaped; fertile 2-3, ohlong-ovoid, 

 aggregated near the base of the sterile spike, sessile, or the lowest sometimes on a 

 very short stalk, with a leaf-like bract scarcely exceeding the spike ; perigynia 

 ovoid-triangular, attenuated at the base, with a short beak and nearly entire orifice, 

 about equal to the ovate pointed dark-brown scale ; achenium obovoid with a 

 prominent ring at the apex sniTounding the base of the style ; culm 3' - 6' high ; 

 leaves short, rather rigid. (C. verna, Villars, Dew., not of Schk.) — Rocky hills, 

 Salem and Ipswich, Massachusetts. (Nat. from Eu.) 



89. C, Richardsonii, R. Brown. Sterile spike peduncled, cylindrical; 

 fertile I or 2, sessile or short-stalked, approximate, oblong, longer than the scale- 

 like brownish and mostly short-pointed bracts ; perigynia obovoid-triangular, unth 

 a tapering base, obtuse, nearly beakless, the short point with an almost entire orifice, 

 rather shorter than the ovate aculish brown or chestnut-colored scale; culm 

 (5' -9' high) and rigid leaves rough. — Dry ground, near Rochester, New York 

 {Dewey) ; prairies of Illinois {Mead] ; Wisconsin [Sartwell), and northward. — A 

 well-marked species, in aspect most like No. 86. 



90. C. pubescens, Muhl. Sterile spike usually sessile; ^/erd'fe 3-4, 06 

 long or cylindrical, loosely fioivered, somewhat approximated, or the lowest a little 

 remote, on a short stalk, with a narrow leaf-like bract about the height of the 

 culm ; fruit ovoid and sharply triangular, downy, attenuated at the base, vith an 

 abrupt slender beak nearly entire at the orifice, a little longer than the ovate abrupt- 

 ly-pointed white scale; culm and leaves soft-downy. — Moist woods and meadows, 

 New England to Wisconsin and Kentucky. Differs from the other species of 

 this section in its greater size and in aspect, and especially in the sharply angled 

 perigynium. 



§ 7. Perigynia slightly infiaied, with a short beak, terminating in an entire or slightly 

 notched orifice : staminate spike solitary, stalked (in No. 91 usually pistillate 

 at the summit) : cuhns tall and leafy. — Anomaly.* 



91. C. miliacea, Muhl. Staminate spike commonly fertile at the sum- 

 mit ; fertile spikes 3, cylindrical, rather slender, loosely flowei-ed at the base, on 



* The species here combmed, merely to avoid the multiplication of small sections, do not 

 constitute a natural group, but present certain points of afflnity with several others. 



