c^rex CYPERACE^ 70 



long, about 2 lines thick, erect and clustered at the summit of the stem, 

 densely several-flowered or loose at the base, the third when present distant 

 or sometimes nearly basal, pedunded; perigynia oblong, very pale, nearly 

 2 lines long, less than a line thick, beakless, narrowed to an entire orifice, 

 longer than the ovate obtuse scale: stigmas 3. In bogs, Alaska to Califor- 

 nia and the Atlantic States. 



§ Bicolores Tuckerman 1. c. 12. Small species with the ter- 

 minal spike androgynous or all staminate : perigynia more or 

 less round or pyriform, beakless, commonly glaucous. 



C. aurea Nutt. Gen. ii, 205. Light green: stems very slender, erect 

 or reclining, 2-15 inches long: leaves flat, 1-1 )£ lines wide, the basal equal- 

 ling or exceeding the stem: bracts similar and exceeding the spikes: termin- 

 al spike short-peduncled; pistillate spikes 2-4 oblong or linear-oblong, erect 

 and clustered near the top, or the lower one distant, on filiform peduncles, 

 loosely or densely few-flowered, 2-10 lines long: perigynia obovoid or sub- 

 globose, yellow or brown and a line in diameter when mature, beakless, 

 longer than or equalling the membranous acute cuspidate or short-awned 

 scale. In wet meadows Oregon to Brit. Columbia and the Eastern States, 



Var. celsa Bailey Mem. Torr. Bot. Club 1, 75. Taller and strict, 

 15-20 inches high: spikes large and compactly flowered, longer-peduncled. 

 Oregon to California. 



§ 4 Digitate* Fries Corp. 187. Low species with ordinary 

 leaves : sheaths membranous or hyaline and colored either not 

 prolonged into a bract or the bract very short and not foliaceous : 

 perigynia more or lesst>-angled, often hairy, the beak straight or 

 nearly so. 



C. Richardsoni R. Br. Frankl. Journ, 751 Stems slender, rough, 

 erect, 4-12 inches high: leaves flat, about a line wide, the basal shorter 

 than or equalling the stem: staminate spike short-peduncled; pistillate 

 spikes 1 or 2, erect, short-peduncled, 4-9 lines long, compactly several-flow- 

 ered, close together: perigynia obovoid, pubescent, about a line long, min- 

 utely beaked, shorter than the ovate purple conspicuously white-margined 

 scale: stig mas 3. In dry soil California to Brit. Columbia and the Eastern 

 States. 



Tribe vii Sph^riodiphor^: Drejer Car. V). Low species of 

 dry ground with the leaves all radical. Staminate spikes solitary : 

 pistillate spikes short, usually globular or short-oblong, more or 

 less sessile and approximate or the longer ones radical. Perigyn- 

 ia usually short and rdtmded, the beak straight and usually bifid, 

 firm or hard in texture, not inflated, hairy or scabrous. 



C. fllifolia Nutt. Gen. II, 204. Densely tufted, pale green and glabrous: 

 stems very slender, smooth, erect; 3-14 inches high: leaves filiform, rather 

 atflp , spike solitary, erect, bractless, staminate above, pistillate below, 3-15 

 lines long, the pistillate part about 2 lines in diameter perigynia obovoid- 

 oval, triangular, rough or somewhat pubesent at the summit a line long 

 abruptly tipped by a short cylindrical hyaline entire beak, narrower than 

 and about as long as the broadly oval scarious margined obtuse or cuspidate 

 scale. In dry soil California to British Columbia and Nebraska. 



C. vespertina. C. Pennsylvanica of authors as to the Pacific coast 

 plant. Stoloniferous: stems very slender, erect, 8-20 inches high: leaves 



