T. Holm — Studies in the Cyjperaceoi. 33 



dense-flowered spikes with shining, copper-colored scales and 

 utricles. The larger size of the scales in proportion to the 

 utricles is very characteristic. It is a plant not easily con- 

 founded w^ith typical C. atrata or ovata^ and we do not feel 

 inclined to merge it with the others as a mere form or variety 

 of C. atrata. 



Besides C. ovata and chalciolepis there is still a third plant 

 in the Rocky Mountains, which also exhibits a close afiinity to 

 C. atrata, the so-called C. hella Bailey. This plant possesses 

 much narrower spikes than any of the preceding ; the peduncles, 

 especially of the lower spikes, are very long and slender, 

 prominently scabrous, and the scales are dark purplish with 

 broad, light green midrib and very broad, hyaline margins, and 

 are a little shorter than the membranaceous, somewhat inflated, 

 pale green utricle, of which the two marginal nerves are quite 

 thick and conspicuous. In this species the utricle exhibits only 

 a minute granulation and lacks the scabrous margins, a struc- 

 ture which in many respects is suggestive of that of C. Mer- 

 tensii Prescott. We have, thus, before us another type of the 

 Carex atrata alliance which shows transition to one of the 

 most evolute forms of the Melananthoe : C. 31ertensii, and it 

 appears as if the typical C. atrata may be considered as con- 

 stituting the fundamental species of a series of types, some 

 characteristic of Europe alone : C. nigra and aterinina^ and 

 others of this continent : C. ovata, chalciolepis, hella and 

 Mertensii. 



Carex Parryana Dew. 



The distribution of the sexes seems very variable in this 

 species and we have observed dioecism in several individuals. 

 The terminal spike is very often gyngecandrous, wdiile the 

 lateral, when such are developed, are 23urely pistillate ; in 

 monostachyous specimens the spike is mostly gynsecandrous or 

 in a few cases pistillate only. Mono- and di-stachyous culms 

 frequently occur on the same individual. 



Carex chimaphila sp. n. (figs. 11-13). 



Rhizome loosely csespitose with short, ascending stolons, the 

 leaf-sheaths persisting, purplish or dark brown ; leaves rela- 

 tively broad, flat, a little scabrous along the margins, shorter 

 than the culm ; culm erect, slender, triangular, scabrous, from 

 12 to 30^™ in height, phyllopodic ; spikes 3 to 4, mostly 3, con- 

 tiguous or the lowest one remote, subtended by black, scale-like 

 bracts without sheaths, the lowest sometimes with a blade, 

 shorter than the inflorescence ; terminal spike staminate, short 

 and clavate, ]3eduncled, the scales spatulate, brown to almost 

 black with pale midrib; lateral spikes pistillate, from 1 to I'S'^™ 



Am. Jour. Sci.— Fourth Series, Yol. XYI, No. 91.— July. 1903. 

 3 



