292 T. Holm — Studies in the CyperacecE. 



The history of Dewey's unpublished C. magnifica we 

 have mentioned in some previously published papers,^^ 

 stating that C. B. Clarke called our attention to the fact 

 that the species had for many years passed for C. 

 Sitchensis Prescott. C. magnifica is a robust species with 

 the culm reaching a height of about 1.5 m. ; the rhizome 

 is stolonif erous, the culms phyllopodic ; the latter charac- 

 ter is seldom to be seen in herbarium-specimens, but an 

 excellent specimen collected by Mr. E. P. Sheldon in 

 Oregon shows this structure very plainly. The leaves are 

 shorter than the culm, relatively broad, glaucous and 

 thick. Spikes 3-8; the upper was staminate, seldom 

 androgynous, the lower pistillate, mostly androgynous, 

 cylindric, 3-15 cm. long., thick, dense-flowered, sessile or 

 nearly so, contiguous, spreading or drooping, often 

 curved. The bracts subtending the pistillate spikes are 

 leaf like, much longer than the inflorescence ; squamae of pis- 

 tillate flowers elliptic, acuminate, dark purple with midrib 

 of lighter color; perigynium spreading, coriaceous, 

 obovate, turgid, deep brown, scabrous along the upper 

 margin, terminated by a short emarginate beak. The 

 species is not very A^ariable except with reference to the 

 number of spikes, and, to some extent, the distribution 

 of the sexes, as may be seen from the following table, 

 drawn from 31 specimens : 



15 specimens had 2 staminate spikes. 



11 





.. 3 



3 





cc ^ 



2 





- 4 



19 





" 3 pistillate 



8 





- 2 



Only in 5 specimens the pistillate spikes were all purely 

 pistillate ; in the remaining 26 some or all were androgy- 

 nous ; in 6 specimens one or two of the lateral male spikes 

 were androgynous, and one specimen had a simple, ter- 

 minal androgynous spike. Some specimens of gigan- 

 tic size were collected by Professor Piper in Alaska 

 (Astoria, June 21st, 1904) ; in these the entire inflorescence 

 measured from 23 to 24 cm. ; the staminate spikes varied 

 from 5 to 10 cm. in length, and the pistillate from 10 to 

 15 cm. 



" This Journal, vol. 17, p. 316, 1904, and vol. 26, p. 486, 1908. 



