420 T. Holm — Studies in the Cyperacece. 



original diagnosis as a last resource, and it is, also, the safest 

 method. We were in the present instance under the impres- 

 sion that our Carex from Colorado did belong to C. Tolmiei, 

 judging from the very numerous references in literature and 

 herbaria to the same plant from various parts of the Rocky 

 Mountains, but our suspicion became aroused when comparing 

 the diagnosis as written by Boott and reproduced bj recent 

 authors. Boott's comprehensiv^e work is, of course, a great 

 help, but it is, as may be said of all other monographs of large 

 genera, far from infallible, and the writer is greatly indebted 

 to Mr. C. B. Clarke of Kew for his kindness in loaning us one 

 of Boott's own specimens of C. Tolmiei^ and for calling our atten- 

 tion to certain points in the figured details, which are less cor- 

 rect. We have, thus, had the opportunity to compare one of 

 Boott's specimens with his diagnosis, and have succeeded in 

 acquiring a fuller knowledge of the plant than otherwise 

 obtainable. 



Most of the other species with which C. Tolmiei has been 

 confused were already familiar to us ; the remaining are evi- 

 dently undescribed and will be treated as such, where sufiicient 

 material becomes accessible. But before we present the diag- 

 nosis of some of these segregates, we deem it necessary to 

 give a few data concerning some external characters of the 

 true C. Tolmiei Boott, by which it may be readily distinguished 

 from its supposed allies. 



The species C. Tolmiei of Boott is aphyllopodic, with the 

 rhizome densely matted and with short stolons covered by a 

 mass of fibers from the dissolved scale-like leaves, and the 

 sheaths of the basal, proper ones, by Boott himself cor- 

 rectly described as : " Rhizoma horizontaliter repens, fibris 

 lanatis." The relative large number of almost contiguous pis- 

 tillate spikes is a striking feature, also the long and slender, 

 setaceous peduncles of the lower spikes. The number of stig- 

 mas is constantly three, and the utricle is, as it appears, mostly 

 two-nerved, granular above and often purplish spotted with 

 a short emarginate or, sometimes, slightly bidentate beak. 

 Among the specimens which we have examined of C. Tolmiei 

 were several which answered very well to Boott's diagnosis of 

 C. nigella : "A G. Tolmiei differt spiels paucioribus, masculis 

 2-3, perigynio bidentato majore, squamis lanceolatis mucro- 

 natis." However, we observed among typical C. Tolmiei 

 utricles with bidentate beaks, and several with the scales 

 mucronate. It, thus, appears as if G. nigella Boott may not 

 be specifically distinct from G. Tolmiei Boott, and, moreover, 

 Mr. Clarke has informed us that he has examined the very 

 specimens in herb. Boott collected by Toulmie and labelled 

 " nigella^' and that he feels most inclined to consider them 



