T. Holm — Studies in the Cyjoeracece. 423 



obtuse, black or deep brown with thin, membranaceous mar- 

 gins, the midrib pale, not excurrent ; lateral spikes mostly 

 three, thick, erect or spreading, when crowded near each other 

 (fig. 3), purely pistillate or the upper ones androgynous (fig. 2), 

 at maturity almost squarrose, the upper sessile, the lower borne 

 on short, stout peduncles; bracts not sheathing, with black 

 auricles, only the lower ones leaf-like and about as long as the 

 axillary spike ; scale of pistillate spike (tig. 5) ovate, acute, 

 black with pale, not excurrent midrib ; utriculus (fig. 6) 

 minutely granular above, mostly longer than the scale, thin in 

 texture, shortly stipitate, turgid, with a short entire beak, 

 abruptly bent to the horizontal, dull brown, often purplish 

 spotted above, two-nerved ; caryopsis sessile, light brown, 

 roundish in outline with both faces slightly convex ; stigmas 

 two, base of style persisting. 



We found this species very abundant in the region of Clear 

 Creek Canon (Colo.), also near Leadville (Colo.) ; it grows in 

 thickets of willows along creeks at an elevation of between 

 3,600 and 3,900 met.* 



Carex prionophylla Holm (figs. 7-11). 

 i^Carex Tolmiei Bail, non Boott var.) 



Roots thick, very hairy : rhizome densely csespitose with 

 numerous persisting, very scabrous, reddish brown scale-like 

 leaves ; culms aphyllopodic, until 45^^" in height, erect, stiff. 

 triangular, very scabrous and leafy to about the middle ; leaves 

 of sterile shoots as long as the culm, with long, tubular sheaths, 

 as those of the culm, very scabrous along the margins besides 

 on both faces of the blade and on the sheaths, the blade flat ; 

 spikes mostly five, contiguous, or the lowest one in some dis- 

 tance from the others ; the terminal staminate, short, sessile ; 

 the scales (fig. 9) elliptical, black with pale, not excurrent mid- 

 24 specimens, some of the lateral spikes androgynons. 

 41 '' all tlie lateral spikes purely pistillate. 



33 specimens with in all 3 lateral spikes. 

 16 " '' 2 " 



11 '' " 4 " 



3 " "1 '' " 



1 " '-5 " " 



1 '' ''6 '' 



* Specimens examined : Wyoming : Head of Big Goose Creek, Big Horn 

 Mts. (Fr. Tweedy); Sierra Madre Mts., Carbon County. Battle Lake Mt., 

 9,500 ft., scarce on a wet, shaded north-slope (A. Nelson) ; Little Goose 

 Creek (A. Nelson), Montana : Old Hollowtop, near Pony Mt, (P, A. Rydberg 

 and E. A. Bessey), Colorado : Marshall Pass, 12,000 ft, abundant in wet 

 places, covering extensive areas (C. F, Baker) ; Silverplume (P. A, Rydberg) ; 

 Headwaters of Clear Creek and the alpine ridges lying east of Middle Park 

 (C, C. Parry) ; abundant along Quail Creek near Stevens' mine, in low 

 thickets of Salix glaucops ; Headwaters of Clear Creek ; in swamps on Gray's 

 peak ; very frequent in swamps on Mt. Massive near Leadville (the author). 



