592 CYPERACE^E. (sEDGE FAMILY.) 



a short and abrupt minutely-toothed beak about the length of the ovate pointed 

 chestnut-colored scale. (C. marginata, Muhl.) — Dry woods and hills : common, 

 especially northward. 



98. C. varia, Muhl. Sterile spike sessile; fertile 2-3, mostly 3, distinct, on 

 very short stalks, ovoid, 6 - 10-fiowered ; the lowest and sometimes the 2 lower 

 with green leaf-like bracts ; perigynia obocoid, with an abrupt distinctly toothed beak, 

 about the length of the ovate pointed light-brown scale, (C. Pennsylvanica, var. 

 Muhlenbergii, Gray, Gram. Sf Cyp.) — Dry wooded hills: common, especially 

 northward. Closely resembles the last ; but has wider, shorter, and more rigid 

 glaucous leaves; also taller ( 1° — 1^°) and more erect than No. 96, broader- 

 leaved, and the spikes scattered. All these seem to run together. 



99. C. precox, Jacq. Sterile spike club-shaped ; fertile 2-3, oblong-ocoid, 

 aggregated near the base of the sterile spike, sessile, or the lowest sometimes on a 

 very short stalk, with a leaf-like bract scarcely exceeding the spike ; perigynia 

 ovoid-triangular, attenuated at the base, with a short beak and nearly entire or /fee, 

 about equal to the ovate pointed dark-brown scale ; achenium obovoid, with a 

 prominent ring at the apex surrounding the base of the style ; culm 3'- 6' high ; 

 leaves short, rather rigid. (C. verna, Vdlars, Dew., not of Schk.) — Rocky hills, 

 Salem and Ipswich, Massachusetts. (Nat. from Eu.) 



100. C. Eichardsonii, R. Br. Sterile spike peduncled, cylindrical; fertile 

 1 or 2, sessile or short-stalked, approximate, oblong, longer than the scale-like 

 brownish and mostly short-pointed bracts ; perigynia obovoid-triangular, with a 

 tapering base, obtuse, nearly brak/ess, the short point with an almost entire orifice, 

 rather shorter than the ovate acutish brown or chestnut-colored scale; culm 

 (5' -9' high) and rigid leaves rough. — Dry ground, near Rochester, New York 

 [Dewey) ; prairies of Illinois (Mead); Wisconsin (Sartwell), and northward. — 

 A well-marked species, in aspect most like No. 97. 



101. C. pubescens, Muhl. Sterile spike usually sessile , fertile 3-4, ob- 

 long or cylindrical, loosely flowered, somewhat approximated, or the lowest a little 

 remote, on a short stalk, with a narrow leaf-like bract about the height of the 

 culm ; fruit ocoid and sharply triangular, downy, attenuated at the base, with an 

 abrupt slender beak nearly entire at the orifice, a little longer than the ovate abrupt- 

 ly-pointed white scale ; culm and flaccid flat leaves soft downy. — Moist woods and 

 meadows, New England to Wisconsin and Kentucky. Differs from the other 

 species of this section in its greater size and in aspect, and especially in the 

 sharply angled perigynium. 



§ 7. Perigynia sliglitly inflated, with a short beak, terminating in an entire or slightly 

 notched orifice; staminate spike solitary, stalked (in No. 102 usually pistil- 

 late at the summit) : culms tall and leafy. (Two quite unlike species, arti- 

 ficially combined merely for convenience.) — Anomaly. 



102. C. miliacea, Muhl. Staminate spike commonly fertile at the sum- 

 mit ; fertile spikes 3, cylindrical, rather slender, loosely flowered at the base, on 

 filiform nodding stalks; bracts exceeding the culm, with short or nearly obsolete 

 sheaths ; perigynia ovoidAriangular , very smooth and thin, with an entire or very 

 minutely notched orifice, longer than the ovate short-awned white scale. (C. 

 prasina, Wahl.) — Rills and wet meadows : rather common. 



