Holm — Studies in the Gyperaceae. 19 



monograph presented by Kiikenthal, it may be appro- 

 priate to insert some quotations from the paper of Elias 

 Fries. 5 Having described briefly the caespitose and sto- 

 loniferous types of growth Fries also points out the 

 difference in foliage at the base of the flowerbearing stem 

 or culm, viz. : "Alia memorabilis differentia posita est in 

 culmi pede; hie vel cingitur vaginis aphyllis (Aphyllo- 

 podce) vel vaginis omnibus foliiferis imis licet emarcidis 

 (PhyllopodcB). Quanti moment! hsec differentia est, col- 

 latis G. striata et C. acuta, G. ccespitosa et C. vulgari, 

 facile videbis." — Aphyllopodic are for instance C. mari- 

 tima, C. Lyngbyei, G. cryptocarpa, C. stricta, G. ccespi- 

 tosa, etc., while the following are phyllopodic : C. prolixa, 

 C. acuta, C. rigida, etc. It deserves notice that besides 

 the species with monopodial ramification (G. laxiflora 

 cet.), which are all " aphyllopodic, ' ' not a few species of 

 those with sympodia belong to this same category (G. 

 Tolmiei, C. angustata, C. spectabilis cet.). Such phyllo- 

 and aphyllo-podic species are readily to be distinguished 

 from each other, inasmuch as the character is constant; 

 low forms of the aphyllopodic C. macrochceta exhibit in 

 this wise an entirely different aspect from the phyllo- 

 podic C. ustulata, with which such dwarfish forms have 

 often been confounded. And no instance has, so far, been 

 observed where an aphyllopodic species might change its 

 habit so as to become a phyllopodic variety, or vice versa. 

 In other words the phyllopodic C. podocarpa R. Br. as 

 depicted by Boott cannot positively be conspecific with 

 the plant collected by Macoun, which is aphyllopodic. 

 The stipitate nut is not a character possessed by G. podo- 

 carpa alone, but recurs in several species of the Aeora- 

 stachycB, when examined at young stages, furthermore 

 in some of the Melananthce (fig. 5). Finally there is 

 another plant which has also been referred to C. podo- 

 carpa by Kiikenthal (I. c), and this plant was collected 

 on the northwest coast of this continent by Seemann (n. 

 2207) ; it is a phyllopodic species, and by C. B. Clarke 

 identified as G. ustulata Wahlenb. 



Several years ago when engaged in identifying some 

 largfe collections of Car ex mainly from Alaska, nnd 

 British Columbia, we were unable to find any specimen 

 that might represent the true C. podocarpa R. Br., 



5 Fries, Elias: Synopsis Caricum distigmaticarum, spicis sexu distinetis, 

 in Scandinavia lectarum. (Bot. Notiser, p. 97, Lund, 1843.) 



