80 CYPERACEAE. 



Carex interrupta Boeckl. Stoloniferous; stems 40-50 cm. high, slender, 

 smooth; leaves 2-3 mm. broad, flat, shorter than the stems; sheaths fibrillose; 

 lowest bract leaf-like, nearly as long as the inflorescence; terminal spike and 

 sometimes the next one staminate, 1.5—2.5 cm. long; pistillate spikes 3 or 4, 

 narrowly cylindric, sessile or short-pedicelled, erect, 1—7 era. long, densely 

 flowered near the top, but often very loosely scattered toward the base; 

 perigynia green or straw-colored, ovate, 2 mm. long, smooth or with a few teeth 

 near the top, the beak short and bidentate; scales ovate, obtuse, pale or brown- 

 ish, longer than the perigynia. 



Wet meadows and stream banks. First collected by Scouler on the lower 

 Columbia River. 



Carex nudata W. Boott. Tufted, glabrous; stems slender, 30-40 cm. high, 

 scabrous on the angles; leaves flat, 2-5 mm. broad, shorter than the stems, 

 their sheaths slightly fibrillose; bracts with purple auricles at base, sheathless, 

 the lower rarely equalling the inflorescence; spikes 4 or 5, cylindric, 1-2.5 cm. 

 long, erect, peduncled, mostly contiguous; perigynia narrowly ellipsoid, straw- 

 colored or often purple at tip, faintly nerved, finely punctate, quickly decidu- 

 ous, 3 mm. long; scales dark purple, mostly oblong and obtuse, about equalling 

 the perigym'a. 



Along mountain streams, infrequent. 



Carex scopulorum Holm. Stoloniferous, glabrous; stems 10-40 cm. high, 

 erect, scabrous, leafy at the base; leaves flat, shorter than the stems; bracts 

 with black auricles, the lower nearly as long as the inflorescence; spikes 2-7, 

 cylindric, 1—2 cm. long, ascending, the upper ones contiguous; terminal spike 

 mostly staminate; perigynia stipitate, obovoid, turgid, 2-nerved, granular 

 and purplish toward the tip, the short entire beak bent to one side; scales 

 ovate, acute, black with a pale midrib; stigmas 2. 



Wet mountain meadows, abundant. 



Carex rigida Good. Rhizomes stout, rather short; stems 30-50 cm. high, 

 stiff, erect, scabrous; leaves flat, 3-5 mm. broad, mostly crowded near the base, 

 shorter than the stem; bract black-auricled at base; spikes nearly black; 

 staminate linear, 5-15 mm. long; pistillate 2, rarely 3, short-cylindric, sessile, 

 erect, the lower in the axil of the bract, the upper often partly staminate; 

 perigynia firm, nerveless, elliptic to obovoid, plano-convex, short-beaked, 

 speckled with black near the tip, 2.5-3 mm. long; scales black, obtuse, as long 

 as the perigynia. 



A variable species; common in wet alpine meadows at about 1700 m. 

 altitude. 



Carex gymnoclada Holm. Stoloniferous, glabrous; stems 30-50 cm. high, 

 erect, scabrous, leafless; leaves narrow, flat, as long as the stems; bracts sheath- 

 less, the lower nearly as long as the inflorescence; spikes usually 3, cylindric, 

 about 1 cm. long, sessile or nearly so, erect, the terminal one staminate; peri- 

 gynia ovate to oval, stipitate, faintly 2-nerved, pale-green, the short beak en- 

 tire; scales oval, acutish, black with a pale midrib, shorter than the perigynia; 

 stigmas 2. 



In mountain bogs, rare. 



Carex aperta Boott. (C. bovina Howell.) Tufted, smooth throughout; 

 stems 30-60 cm. high; leaves flat but keeled, 4-6 mm. broad, rather shorter 

 than the stems, pale green; spikes 3 or 4, the terminal staminate, mostly short 

 peduncled, erect; pistillate spikes 1-3 cm. long, densely flowered, 5 mm. thick; 

 scales equalling the perigynia, acuminate, purple with a green midrib, divaricate 

 at maturity; perigynia 2 mm. long, turgid, broadest at the middle, tapering to 

 each end, brown when mature, the two or three angles pale; beak short and 

 entire. 



This is the common "hay sedge" of the Columbia River bottoms where it 

 was first collected by Douglas. 



