CYPERACF^E. (SEDGE FAMILY.) 589 



§ 4. Perigynia without a beak, smooth, not inflated, 3-angled, regularly striate, termi- 

 nating in a short, entire, ruther obliquely bent or recurved point, remaining green at 

 maturity : pistillate scales membranaceous, mostly tipped with a rough point 

 or awn, brown or spotted, fading to white : staminate spike solitary : pistillate 

 spikes 2-5, more or less remote, the lowest often near the base of the culm. 



* Sterile spike club-shaped : fertile spikes (erect, the uppermost commonly near 



the base of the sterile) all on stalks principally included within sheathing bracts, 

 except sometimes the lowest, and shorter than the spikes or not much exceeding 

 them : perigynia ovoid-triquetrous, narrowed at each end : culms numerous, 

 diffuse and in fruit becoming prostrate : leaves all radical, very broad, finely 

 and closely nerved throughout, with 3 distinct ribs. — Plantagine^. 



84. C. plantaginea, Lam. Fertile spikes commonly 4, oblong, about 5-8- 

 flowered ; bracts very short, dark purple, or the lowest greenish. (C. latifolia, 

 Schk.) — Shady woods, mostly on hillsides in rich soil, New England to Penn., 

 Wisconsin, and northward ; and southward through the Alleghanies. 



85. C. Careyaiia, Torr. Fertile spikes 2-3, ovoid or oblong, about 3-5- 

 flowered; bracts green, the upper equal to the spikes, the lower someAvhat 

 exceeding them; perigynia large (2"-2£" in length); leaves dark green. — In 

 similar situations with the last, N. New York to Penn. and Ohio : rare. 



86. C. platyph^lla, Carey. Fertile spikes 3, jil. form, loosely 3- 4-flowered; 

 bracts as in the last; perigynia small; culms slender; leaves pale or whitish-green. 

 — In similar situations with No. 84; and commoner southward. 



* * Sterile spike short, club-shaped, pedunculate: fertile spikes 2-4, all on fili- 



form cxsertecl stalks, with long sheathing bracts resembling the leaves ; the upper- 

 most, as well as the leaves, exceeding the slender and at length prostrate 

 culms : perigynia as in the last subsection. — Digitales. 



87. C. retTOCUrva, Dew. Fertile spikes ovoid or oblong, compactly 3-8- 

 flowered, on long drooping stalks, frequently with one or two staminate flowers at 

 their base ; leaves glaucous, 3-4 lines wide, with 3 prominent nerves. — Copses and 

 hillsides, New England to W. New York, Virginia, and southward. — Closely 

 approaching the next; perhaps only a variety of it. 



88. C. digitalis, Willd. Fertile spikes linear-oblong, loosely 6-9 -flowered, on 

 long stalks, the lowest sometimes drooping ; leaves and bracts narrow, dark green ; 

 perigynia smaller than in the last. (C. oligocarpa, Schw. 8c Torr., not of Schk. 

 C. Vanvleckii, Schw.) — Copses and hillsides : not rare. — Slender, 6' - 12' high, 

 growing in tufts, with numerous culms and long grassy leaves. 



* * * Sterile spike linear, either conspicuously peduncled or smaller and nearly 



sessile in the same species : fertile spikes 2-6, erect; the 1-2 uppermost 

 commonly near the base of the sterile, on an included stalk ; the rest on 

 exserted stalks, with long sheathing bracts resembling the leaves ; the uppermost 

 exceeding the erect culm : perigynia with obtuse angles, about the length of 

 the scale. — Oligocarpje. 

 ■i- Perigynia distinctly nerved, and with a hyaline orifice : style nearly even : scales 

 of the pistillate spikes awnless or barely awn-pointed. 



89. C. laxifidra, Lam. Fertile spikes slender and loosely several - many- 

 flowered on a zigzag rhachis, cylindrical, or sometimes rather dense and oblong ; 



