578 CTPERACE^. (sedge family.) 



30. C. tenu.ifl6ra, Wahl. Spikes 3, feiD-Jiowered, closely approximated; 

 perigynia ovate-oblong, about the length of the broadly ovate scale. — Cold 

 swamps, N. New England to Wisconsin, and northward. (Eu.) 



31. C. canescens, L. (in part). Pale or glaucous; spikes 5-7 {about 

 \2 - 20-Jlowered} , the upper approximated, the rest distinct, the lowermost remote; 

 perigynia ovate, equalling the pointed scale. (C. curta, Good. C. Richardi, 

 Midix.) — Marshes and wet meadows . common, especially northward. (Eu.) 



Var. vitilis is a more slender and weak form, not glaucous, with smaller 

 and roundish 6-15-flowered spikes, the more pointed perigynia spreading (and 

 often tawny) at maturity: perhaps a good species. (Var. alpicola and var. 

 sphserost'achya, iJrf. 1 . C. tenella, £ArA. C. Persoonii, Si'eier. C. vitilis, i^Vies. 

 C. Gebhardi, Hoppe. C. sphterostachya and C. Buckleyi, Dew. ) — On moun- 

 tains, and high northward. (Eu.) \ '' I , '" 'i^jfj ,-. \ ■ ' ' r ' 



32. C. Norv6gica, Schk. Pale ; stem 1° or lees high, angled ; spikes 

 2-5, rather approximate, oblong, short-bracted, with a few staminate flowers 

 below the numerous fertile ones, or the terminal one all staminate; perigynia 

 oval or oblong, lenticular, many-nerved, with a short entire beak, equalling the 

 obtuse scale. — Salt marsh. Wells, Maine, Rev. J. Blake. (Eu.) 



1- -^Perigynia thin, spongy-thickened at the base, scarcely nerved, 2-toothed. 



33. C. Deweykna, Schw. Spikes about 4 ; the 2 uppermost approximate, 

 the others distinct, the lowest long-bracted ; perigynia oblong-lanceolate, taper- 

 ing into a rough serrate-margined beak, rather longer than the sharply pointed 

 or awncd scale. — Copses, New England and New York to Wisconsin, and 

 northward. 



* * Spikes ovoid or obovoid, more or less clustered; perigynia concave-convex, com- 

 pressed, margined or winged, nerved, with a rough 2-toothed beak, often 

 tawny at maturity : scales tawny or white, awnless : bracts bristle-shaped, 

 usually falling before the maturity of the spikes. 

 •<- Spikes small: perigynia usually [but not always) becoming spongy-thickened at the 

 base, the margins rigid. — StellulXt^e. 

 ++ Spikes completely or incompletely dicscious. 



34. C. exilis, Dew. Spike commonly solitary and cylindrical, dioecious or 

 androgynous (staminate) and contracted below, often with 1-6 small additional 

 fertile spikes contiguous to the terminal larger one ; perigynia otate-lanceolate, 

 plano-convex, with a feio fine nerves only on the convex side, spreading, turning 

 brownish, longer than ovate acute or obtuse scale ; leaves involute-filiform. — 

 Swamps, E. New England to New Jersey, near the coast: also borders of 

 mountain lakes, Essex County, New York. 



35. C. St6rilis, Willd. Sp/fes 4 - 6, all staminate and rarely all pistillate 

 on some plants, many androgynous, especially the lower spikes, all ohlong or the 

 fertile roundish ; perigynia ovate from a broad somewhat heart-shaped sharply mar- 

 gined base, flat, diverging or the lower recurved, very acutely 2-toothcd at the 

 apex, about equalling the acute or pointed scale ; leaves narrow, involute, pale. 

 (C. stellulata, var. sterilis, of former ed.) — Swamps and wet meadows: com- 

 mon, especially northward. 



