CYPERACE^E. (SEDGE FAMILY.) 585 



t- Scales of the spike deep-colored, purple or dark brown. 



61. C. Buxbaiimii, Wahl. Spikes 3-4,obovoid or oblong, the -uppermost 

 short-stalked (rarely altogether staminate), the otheis nearly sessile, the lowest 

 somewhat remote ; perigynia ellij^tical, obtusely triangular, compressed, ob- 

 scurely nerved, with a distinctly notched orifice, scarcely equalling the ovate 

 sharp-pointed or short-awned (brown-purple) scale. (C. canescens, L., in part.) 

 — Peat-bogs : not rare. (Eu.) 



62. C. atrata, L. Spikes 3-4, oblong-ovoid, approximate, all on short filiform 

 stalks, at length drooping ; perigynia ovoid, with a short notched point, about the 

 length of the ovate acute or dark brown-purple scale. — Alpine summits of the 

 White Mountains, New Hampshire. — About 12' -15' high, with rather rigid 

 leaves, nearly equalling the culm. Fruit at first pale straw-color, often becom- 

 ing dark purple or nearly black. Stigmas sometimes 2. (Eu.) 



63. C. alpina, Swartz. Spikes 3-4, small, oval or globular, crowded into a 

 head at the summit of the slender naked culm, nearly sessile, mostly overtopped 

 by a foliaceous bract ; perigynia orbicular or obovate, pointed with a small short 

 btuk, minutely notched at the orifice,' roughish, longer than the ovate bluntish 

 black-purple scale. (C. Vahlii, Schk.) Isle Royale, &c, Lake Superior, Prof 

 Whitney, C. G. Loving, Jr., and northward. — Culms in ours l°-2° high, the 

 leaves all at the base : spikes 2" -4" long. (Eu.) 



+- ■*- Scales and spikes greenish turning straw-color. 



64. C. Shortiana, Dew. Spikes 3-5, cylindrical, erect, more or less dis- 

 tant (j'-lj' long), and the lowest rather remote, all androgynous and densely 

 flowered ; the terminal one about half staminate, the rest with only a few barren 

 flowers at the base, the lower on short stalks ; perigynia broadly obovate, abruptly 

 contracted at the base into a short stalk, with an extremely minute entire point, little 

 longer than the short-pointed somewhat obovate scale. — Marshes, S. Pennsyl- 

 vania to Illinois and southward. — Plant l°-3° high : leaves flat, 3'- wide. 



§ 2. Perigynia without a beak (except in No. 67, &c), smooth, slightly inflated, 

 bluntly triangular, nerved, with an obtuse and pointless orifice, or a short (and 

 straight or oblique) entire or notched point : bracts leaf-like, sheathing: stami- 

 nate spike solitary (except sometimes in No. 71), or androgynous and pistillate 

 above ; the rest ail fertile. 



* Staminate spike on an elevated stalk (rarely short-stalked or sessile, or with 1-2 

 small ones at its base) : pistillate spikes 1-6, erect, the upper on very short, 

 the lower on more or less elongated exserted stalks (short and included in 

 No. 73) : bracts sliorter than the culm (except in No. 65 and 72) : perigynia 

 with an entire and straight or obliquely bent point, glaucous-green when young, 

 becoming c lam-colored or yellow at maturity, sometimes spotted with purple ; 

 pistillate scales dark-brown with white margins, fading to tawny. (Leaves 

 mostly radical, more or less glaucous.) — Panice.<e. 



•*- Stigmas mostly 2 : perigynium wholly pointless, turgid-obovate. 



65. C. atirea, Nutt. Fertile spikes. 3 -4, oblong, loosely flowered, the 

 lowest often very remote •, perigynia pear-shaped, obtuse, longer than the ovate 

 acute scale ; achenium lenticular. (C. pyrifdrmis, Schw.) — Wet grassy banks, 

 especially on limestone, W. New England to Wisconsin, and northward. — A 



