T. Holm — Studies in the Oyjoeraceoe. 19 



lis as the last member of the Melananthce, showing transition 

 to the former "grex" through C. macrochcela. The geographi- 

 cal distribution of C. spectabilis extends from the Ohilliwack 

 Valley south to California, but the species is evidently quite 

 rare. 



Carex vulgaris Fr. var. lipocarpa nob. 



Most of the material of C. vulgaris secured from the North- 

 west belongs to this variety, and it is this plant which by recent 

 American Caricographers has been identified as Boott's . C. 

 decidua. Mr. C. B. Clarke has called our attention to this mis- 

 take, and we owe to him the important information, that even 

 if Boott at one time considered both of these identical, he, later 

 on, corrected the determination in regard to the West Ameri- 

 can plant, and reserved the specific name decidua to the South 

 American exclusively. 



The diagnosis of C. decidua was published in Transacts. 

 Linn. Soc. (vol. xx, 1845, p. 119), and the following points may 

 be quoted as sufficient for distinguishing the species from vari- 

 eties of C. vulgaris: "spicis 4-7 erectis ; suprema mascula 

 vel androgyna basi vel apice et basi mascula — perigyniis 

 denticulato — serratis." It is no doubt a near ally of C. vulgaris, 

 and perhaps more especially so of the variety lipocarpa, but 

 even if the perigynia and the scales are deciduous in both, the 

 characters enumerated above are not to be observed in this par- 

 ticular form of C. vulgaris. 



Carex dives nob. 



No. 33,753 of this collection was identified by Mr. Macoun 

 as C. variabilis Bail. var. elatior Bail., but it differs in several 

 essential points from this variety and can not be referred to C. 

 variabilis. Habitually it is more like C. Sitchensis Presc, 

 but the spikes are more numerous, more dense-flowered, the 

 squamae lack the characteristic spot at the apex, the perigynium 

 is broader, prominently granular and often spinulose along the 

 upper margins, hence we have identified the species as our C. 

 dives, established upon a plant from Oregon, collected several 

 years ago by Professor Henderson. The species is closelv 

 allied to C. Sitchensis, and may be placed near this and C. 

 acuta of the Microrhynehce. 



Carex Hendersonii Bail. 



This represents the Western and especially the North- 

 western type of the higher developed Zejochlcence of this con- 

 tinent, the others showing a decided Eastern distribution, for 

 instance C. laxiflora, C. plantaqinea, C. digitalis, etc. But 

 among the lower forms, among those which we have enume- 



