CTPERACE^. (sedge family.) 529 



* Perigynla of a thick or somewJiat kathen/ texture, with 2 short and diverging mem- 

 branaceous teeth : bracts mttch exceeding the nearly smooth culm : Gtaminate spike* 

 2 -3, the uppermost stalked, the lower short and sessile: fertile spikes 1-2, 

 usually 2, erect, remote, sessile or on very short stalks. — La.nugin6s2e. 



102. C. filif6l'inis, L. FerlUe spikes ovoid or ohhng, the upper often 

 staminatc at tlie apex ; perigt/nia ovoid, densely viooUy, obscurely nerved, the orifice 

 scarcely prolonged into a beak terminating in 2 slightly liairy teeth ; leaves and 

 brads nanvw and involute; culm very slender. — Peat-bogs, New England to 

 Perm., Wisconsin, and northward. (Eu.) 



103. C lantlg^inosa, Michx. Fertile spikes oblong or cylindrical ; perigy- 

 nia ovoid, roughly hairy, conspicuously nerved, wHh a short but distinct beak termi- 

 nating in 2 very hairy sharp teeth ; leaves and bracts fiat. (C. pellita, Muhl.) — 

 Swamps and wet meadows. New England to Kentucky, and northward. — Ex- 

 tremely like the last, from which it differs ih the commonly longer fertile spikes, 

 stouter culm, flat lcaves> and especially in the distinct flattish and hairy beak 

 of the porigynium, with longer and sharper teeth. This species has often the 

 fruit in a diseased state, when it becomes more inflated, of an orange color, and 

 has an abortive achenium. 



* * Perigynia thin, downy, or roughly dotted, the beak terminating in a thin and 

 Karious oblique orifice, either entire or slightly notched: bracts rigidly erect, short- 

 er than the shai-ply triangular rough culm. — Scari6sje. 



104. C vestita, Willd. Sterile spikes 1-2, the uppermost cylhidrical, 

 shortly stalked ; fertile 1-2, approximate, sessile, ovoid or oblong, sometimes 

 Btaminate at the apex ; perigynia ovoid, downy, with a slightly oblique beak termi- 

 nated by a thin membranaceous notched orifice, a little longer than the ovate pointed 

 scale ; leaves fiat, shorter than the stout and rigid culm. — Sandy soils, growing 

 in tufts. New England to Penn. and southward ; rather rare. — Resembling the 

 two last in extenial appearance, but readily distinguished by the membranaceous 

 beak of the fruit, which is red at the base and white and transparent at the ori- 

 fice ; and the style is twisted within the porigynium. 



105. C. polymdrplia, Muhl. (in part.) Sterile spikes I -4, the upper- 

 most on a long stalk ; the lower short, often with a few fertile flowers at the 

 base ; fertile spike solitary, or rarely 2, remote, oblong-cylindrical, sometimes 

 staminate at the apex, erect, on partly exserted stalks ; perigynia oblong-ovoid, 

 S-lO-nerved, very minutely roughened with granular dots, the slightly-bent beak 



, tapering to the entire (reddish) orifice, longer than the ovate scarcely-pointed 

 purple scale. (C. Halseyana, Dew. ^ ed. I. C. striata, Torr. N. Y. Fl., not 

 of Michx.) — Varies, with the fertile spikes filiform, and the flowers alternate 

 and vei-y distant on the rhachis. — Upland meadows, E. Mass. to Penn. and W. 

 New York. — Culm rather slender, much taller (12' - 18') than the rigid leaves. 

 Though a somewhat variable plant, it is readily distinguished from the next, 

 with which it has been confounded, by the characters hero given, especially by 

 tlie entire, meinbranaceous orifice of the fruit. 



t 11. Pengynia moderately infiated, conspicuously many-nerved, smooth (except in 

 No. 109), with a straight beak terminating in 2 rigid more or less spreading teeth ; 

 45 



