458 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY. 
in an unfortunate endeavor to latinize one of Michaux’s names, he had . 
substituted C. scirpina for C. scirpoidea, Michx., not C. scirpoides, 
Schkuhr. This unfortunate citation of “C. scirpina” as a pure synonym 
of Michaux’s C. scirpoidea attaches to that name a decided element of 
indefiniteness. It is, therefore, wiser to take for the plant of Schkulr 
and of Willdenow the more clearly defined name, C. ¢nterior. 
One other plant of the Astrostachyae has been the source of much con- 
fusion in the treatment of New England species of this group. Unlike 
Carex echinata, C. sterilis, and C. interior, the perigynia of this plant 
are broadest at the middle, thence tapering to a narrow base. In aspect 
the plant is strikingly like the largest form of C. canescens, but its thin- 
edged strongly recurved perigynia place it clearly in the Astrostachyae. 
he species is not uncommon from eastern Massachusetts to Delaware 
and central New York, and in New England herbaria it has recently 
passed variously as C. atlantica, C.-interior, C. canescens, var. vulga7s, 
C. sterilis, var. excelsior, &c. From notes left by the late Willams 
Boott it is apparent that he recognized in some of Chas. Wrights 
Connecticut material an undescribed form, but evidently he never 
described the plant. A portion of the original material of the late 
Dr. Eliot C. Howe’s Oarex seorsa, generously furnished the writer by 
Professor C. H. Peck, agrees in every regard with the perplexing New 
England plant, and under that name the species should now be know? 
The members of the Hlongatae, as here interpreted, offer less difficulties 
than the other species of the Hyparrhenae, and special discussion - 
needed only of the forms which have been at various times associat 
with Carex canescens. These plants present two marked forms in their 
perigynia: in one plant, C. arcta, the perigynium is broadest at the 
rounded or subcordate base; while in C. canescens and C. brunnescens 
(C. vitilis, Fries) the perigynium is nearly elliptic in outline, being 
broadest near the middle. 
Carex arcta of Francis Boott was originally published by him as C. 
canescens, var. polystachya, but in his latest treatment of the plant » 
considered it a distinct species. As stated, its perigynial character 
very constant. Furthermore, its rather limited strictly American range 
and unique habit quickly separate it from most forms of C. canescens. C. 
canescens, var. oregana, Bailey, said to differ from var. polystachya s 
having the ‘‘ head larger and more dense . . . becoming brownish, 
has identical perigynia with that plant, and the spikes (heads) are gre®™ 
or brownish, as are those of the eastern plant, a character dependent 0? 
age and exposure to light. 
