CYPERACE^E. (SEDGE FAMILY.; 599 



southward. — Plant 2° -4° high, of yellowish appearance, with long foliaceous 

 bracts, and leaves 4" wide. 



135. C. rostrata, Michx. More slender and smaller than the last (10'- 

 15' high), strictly erect, rather rigid; leaves narrow; fertile spikes 1-3, com- 

 monly 2 ; perigynia scarcely spreading at maturity, lanceolate, obtusely triangular, 

 slender-beaked, about twice the length of the brownish blunt scale. — Cold bogs, 

 mountains of N. New York, New Kngland, and northward. 



136. C. SUblllata, Michx. Fertile spikes 3-5, very remote, on included 

 peduncles loosely few- (4-8-) flower <d, commonly with a few staminate flowers at 

 the apex ; pf-rigynia awl-shaped, reflexed at maturity ; the long slender beak deeply 

 cleft or grooved down one side, tipped with 2 awn-like and at length riyidy de- 

 flexed teeth. (C. Collmsii, Nutt. C. Michaiixii, Dew.) — Cedar swamps, Canada 

 (Michaux) to Rhode Island (Olney), and New Jersey near the coast: rare. 



§ 13. Perigynia much inflated, obovoid or obconic, rather few-nerved, smooth, with a long 

 and slender 2-toothed beak abruptly produced from the obtuse or at maturity even 

 retuse summit, tawny-brown or straw-colored at maturity, spreading horizon- 

 tally, or the lower deflexed, very densely aggregated in thick spikes: these, 

 1 -7 in number, are either all androgynous, staminate at base, or the terminal 

 wholly staminate, the others sometimes wholly pistillate : leaves and bracts flat, 

 the latter much longer than the culm. — SQUARitds^E. 



137. C. Squarr6sa, L. Spikes often only one, commonly 2 -5, globular, ovoid, 

 or cylindraccous (6 7 -7" thick), the terminal one with a slender-contracted base 

 from the numerous staminate flowers, the others almost wholly fertile, on short 

 slender peduncles, their bracts scarcely sheathing ; perigynia sparingly nerved, 

 longer than and concealing the blunt or short-pointed scabs. (C. typhina, Michx.) 

 — Low grounds, E. New England to Illinois and southward. — Remarkable for 

 its dense, short and thick spikes, about 1' long, to which the spreading beaks of 

 the perigynia give a bristly appearance. 



138. C. stenolepis, Torr. Spikes 5-7, the terminal one wholly staminate, 

 or sometimes fertile at the top or throughout ; the others with a few staminate 

 flowers at the base or sometimes none, cylindrical. (1' or more long), the upper 

 approximated, nearly sessile on the zigzag stem, the lower remote on exserted 

 stalks, their bracts sheathing ; perigynia shorter than the long awn-like rough 

 scales. (C. Erankii, Kunth. C. Shortii, Steud., not of Torr.) — Marshes, Penn- 

 sylvania {Prof Pointer) and Virginia to Illinois, and southwestward. — Somewhat 

 resembling the last ; but the spikes are narrower and more numerous, and of a 

 still more bristly appearance from the projecting points of the scales. 



§ 14. Perigynia much inflated, smooth and shining, becoming straw-colored at maturity, 

 with a tapering more or less elongated 2-toothed beak: bracts leaf-like, with very 

 short or obsolete sheaths (conspicuously sheathing only in No. 139) ; scales 

 brown or tawny: staminate spikes 2-5, rarely 1, stalked. — VesicAei^. 

 * Perigynia conspicuously nerved: bracts usually much exceeding the culm. 

 -t- Fertile spikes oblong or cylindrical, many -flowered. 



139. C. retrorsa, Schw. Sterile spikes 1 - 3, the uppermost occasionally 

 with a few fertile flowers, the rest more or less pistillate at the base ; feiiile spikes 

 4- 5, oblong-cylindrical, erect, the upper approximate and clustered on short or in- 



