T. Holm — Studies in the Cyperacew. 305 



as the inflorescence ; scale of starninate flower oblong, obtuse, 

 reddish brown with green, not excurrent, midvein; scale of 

 pistillate flower spathulate oblong, obtuse to aristate, deep 

 purplish to almost black with the midvein obsolete, narrower 

 than the perigynium ; perigynium stipitate, erect, elliptical 

 oblong, minutely granular above, two-nerved, pale green with 

 purplish spots above, the beak short, emarginate; stigmata 

 three or, sometimes, two, the style not exserted. 



Alaska : Chistachina River, lat. 63, between Cook inlet and 

 the Tanana River, collected by Captain E. F. Glenn, and British 

 Columbia: Glacier, alt. 4122 ft., by Zoe W. Palmer. 



Car ex venustula is a near ally of C. Montanensis Bail., 

 although it would not seem so if we compare the diagnoses 

 alone. For it is hard to understand how specimens of authen- 

 tically determined C. Montanensis can be described as belong- 

 ing "to the Rigidee, being allied to C. Tolmiei, yet having the 

 habit of C. Magellanica." The diagnosis* is very incomplete 

 and in several points incorrect. However, the main distinction 

 between the two depends especially upon the structure of the 

 scales and the perigynium : the former being about as long as 

 the very broadly elliptical perigynium in C. Montanensis, while 

 in the other species the scales, obtuse to aristate, are much 

 shorter than the elliptical oblong perigynium. Common to 

 both are the long-peduncled drooping spikes of dark color, the 

 short stem-leaves and aphyllopodic culms. 



Carex rnicrochceta sp. n. 



Rhizome stoloniferous with persisting, brownish scale-like 

 leaves; leaves shorter than the culm, broad, flat and scabrous 

 along the revolute margins ; culm from 10 to 20 cm in height, 

 erect, coarse and stiff, triangular, scabrous, phyllopodic ; spikes 

 three to four, the terminal and, sometimes, the uppermost lateral 

 starninate, the others pistillate, contiguous, erect, sessile, or the 

 lowest one shortly peduncled, all short, thick and dense-flowered, 

 subtended by sheathing bracts with the blades shorter than the 

 inflorescence; scales of starninate and pistillate flowers, elliptical 

 oblong, acuminate, purplish black with pale midvein extended 

 into a short, scabrous awn, longer but narrower than the 

 perigynium ; perigynium stipitate, erect, elliptical, granular, 

 two-nerved, purplish spotted above, whitish below, the beak 

 short, bifid ; stigmata three, the style exserted. 



Yukon: Klondike, Indian Divide, collected by Professor 

 John Macoun (No. 53,877). 



The affinity is with 0. Tolmiei and G. spectabilis of the 

 Melananthce. 



* Botanical Gazette, 1892, p. 152. 



