T. Holm — Studies in the Cyperaceoe. 37 



dejlexa very slender, horizontally creeping and stoloniferous, 

 but producing a number of shoots every year as if it were really 

 csespitose ; each shoot develops only leaves during the first 

 year, succeeded by a terminal, flower-bearing culm the year 

 following. In C. Bossii there is, also, a number of shoots 

 from each rhizome, but the shoots are either purely floral or 

 vegetative ; moreover the rhizome is much more robust, rela- 

 tively shorter and ascending, not horizontal, and not stolonif- 

 erous in the stricter sense of the word. In considering the 

 other parts of the plants, we might mention that the utricle in 

 C. deflexa is very shortly beaked, and the beak bifid, while 

 this organ in C. J^ossii is extended into a very prominent, 

 bidentate beak ; the diagnosis as reproduced (1. c.) is, altogether, 

 not very correct. 



C. The Geographical Distribution of the Carices of Colorado. 



In the accompanying table the species which are marked by 

 an asterisk prefixed are exclusively confined to the bare 

 exposures above the timber-line and are, thus, truly alpine ; 

 they number fifteen, and to these may be added the variety 

 decumbens of C. f estiva. Several of the others are, also, to 

 some extent alpine, but have occasionally been observed below 

 the timber-line on some of the mountains ; among these, are, 

 for instance : C. mela.nocephala^ C. scopidorum and C. capil- 

 laris. Of these the two former are most abundant just at 

 timber-line, while C. capillaris is more frequent at lower ele- 

 vations, where it reaches a more luxuriant growth than higher 

 upward. 



Besides this distribution shown in the table given below, the 

 following species have been reported from 



China : C. stellulata, stenophylla., incurva.^ atrata^ vulgaris, rigida, 



rupestris and microglochin. 

 Japan : C canescens, siccata, JBuxbaurtdi, vulgaris and lyyrenaica. 

 South America : G. canescens (Argentina-Tierra del Fuego), mar- 



cida (Patagonia), festiva. (Argent.-T. del. Fuego), incurva 



(Peru-T, del. Fuego) and vulgaris (Chile). 

 Sandwich Islands : C. f estiva. 



New Zealand : C. stellulata, teretiuscida, vulgaris and pyrenaica. 

 Spitzbergen : C. incurva, nardina, misandra, rupestris and pulla. 



And if we examine the highest altitude reached by some of 

 these arctic-alpine species in the Himalayan Mountains, the fol- 

 lowing may be recorded : C. microglochin from W ,000 to 

 15,000 ft., canescens until 12,000 ft., rigida 13,000 ft., alpina 

 15,000 ft, incurva 15,500 ft. and atrata 17,000 ft. 



