CYPERACE^E. (SEDGE FAMILY.) 595 



beak, widely spreading or reflexed at maturity. — "Wet meadows, especially 

 northward. — Whole plant of a yellowish hue, 6'- 15' high, with spikes about 

 6" in length. (Eu.) 



115. C. (Ederi, Ehrh. Fertile spikes oblong-ovoid, closely aggregated, or the 

 lowest rather remote, on very *hort stalks, densely flowered, sometimes stami- 

 nate at the apex; leaves and bracts narrow, rigidly erect; perigynia ovoid, with a 

 short and rather abrupt minutely notched beak, scarcely recurved at maturity. (C. 

 vindula, Michx., not of Schw. £f Turr. C. irregularis, Schw.) — Wet rocks and 

 bluffs, coast of New England to Illinois, Lake Superior, and northward. — 

 Resembles the last; but the fertile spikes and perigynia are much smaller, and 

 the beak more abrupt, shorter, and straight. (Eu.) 



§ 10. Perigynia slightly inflated, ovoid or obtusely 3-angled, with an abrupt 

 straight beak, nerved, densely pubescent, or rough-puberulent, the pubescence 

 nearly concealing the nerves, except in No. 119 : bracts leaf-like, with short 

 sheaths : scales dark-purple or brown. 



* Perigynia densely pubescent of a thick or somewhat leathery texture, ovoid, rvith 2 



short and diverging membranaceous teeth : bracts much exceeding the nearly smooth 

 culm: staminate spikes 2 or 3, the uppermost stalked, the lower short and 

 sessile : fertile spikes 1-4, usually 2, erect, remote, sessile or on very short 

 stalks. — Lanugin6s;e 



116. C. fllifbrmis, L. Fertile spikes Oblong or ovoid; perigynia very 

 short-beaked and with 2 sharp teeth; leaves and bracts narrow and involute ; culm 

 very slender (1^° -3° high). — Feat-bogs, New England to Penn., Wisconsin, 

 and northward. (Eu.) 



117. C. lanugindsa, Michx. Fertile spikes oblong or cylindrical ; peri- 

 gynia more hispidly pubescent; leaves and bracts flat, broader and shorter; culm 

 stouter (l°-2° high) ; staminate spikes usually shorter. (C. pellita, Muhl.) — 

 Swamps and wet meadows. New England to Kentucky and northward. 



* * Ferigynia thin, downy like the last or roughly granulate, or even smooth, ovoid, 



the beak terminating in a thin and scarious oblique orifice, either entire or slightly 

 notched; bracts rigidly erect, shorter than the sharply triangular rough 

 culm. — Scari6s^3. 



118. C. vestita, Willd. Sterile spikes 1-2. the uppermost cylindrical,, 

 short-stalked; fertile 1-2, approximate, sessile, ovoid or oblong, sometimes 

 staminate at the apex ; perigi/nia densely pnbpscent, with a short thick beak, a little 

 longer than the ovate pointed scale; leaves fiat, shorter than the stout and rigid 

 culm. — Sandy soils, growing in tufts, New England to Penn. and southward. 

 — Resembling the last in external appearance, but readily distinguished by the 

 membranaceous beak of the fruit, which is reddish at the base and white and 

 transparent at the orifice ; and the style is twisted within the perigyniuin. 



119. C. polymorpha, Muhl. (in part.) Sterile spikes 1-4, the upper- 

 most on a long stalk ; the lower short, often with a few fertile flowers at the 

 base ; fertile spike solitary or rarely 2, remote, cylindrical, sometimes staminate at 

 the apex, erect, on partly exserted stalks; perigynia few- (5- 10-) nerved, very 

 minutely roughened with granular dots, or smooth, abruptly contracted into a slender 



