382 



CYPERACEiE. 



Carex. 



Culm 1 - 2 feet high, triquetrous, rough above. Leaves about 2h lines wide, nearly as long 

 as the culm. Spikelets 4 - G lines long, closely approximated in an imbricated oblong cluster, 

 many-flowered ; each with a very few staminate flowers at the base. Scales a little shorter 

 than the perigynium, light brown. Perigynium flatly plano-convex, many-nerved on both 

 sides, tapering to a long very acute point ; the margin distinctly winged, and ciliolate-scabrous. 

 Achenium elliptical-oblong, crowned with the long continuous style. 



Wet meadows and swamps : very common, as is the variety lagopodioides. The latter 

 has been regarded as a distinct species by most of our botanists, but it seems clearly to pass 

 into the ordinary form. 



29. Carex straminea, Schk. St raw-colored Sedge. 



Spikelets 3-8, roundish ovoid, approximated ; fruit broadly ovale, much compressed, 

 abruptly acuminate, with a broadly winged ciliolate-scabrous margin, a little longer than the 

 lanceolate scale. — Schk. Car. t. C.J. 34, and t. Xxx.f. 174 ; Willd. sp. 4. p. 242 ; Muhl. 

 gram. p. 229 ; Dew. Car. I. c. 7. p. 276, and 11. p. 157 ; Schwein. <§• Torr. Car. I. c. 

 p. 314 ; Beck, hot. p. 434 ; Darlingt. fi. Cest. p. 30 ; Torr. Cyp. p. 395 ; Kunth, enum. 2. 

 p. 398. 



var. fcenea : spikelets 4 - 10, ovoid or ovoid-globose, of a glaucous green color, the lower 

 ones sometimes compound ; perigynium rather broadly winged, erect. — Torr. I. c; Tuckerm. 

 I. c. C. fcenea, Muhl. gram. p. 227 ; Schwein. Sf Torr. I. c. ; Kunth, I. c. p. 397 ? 



var. moniliformis : spikelets 4-12, straw-colored, ovoid or obovoid, rather remote ; peri- 

 gynia ovate, more or less conspicuously beaked, erect. — Tuckerm. I. c. C. festucacea (in 

 part), Deio. I. c. ; Schwein. <§• Torr. I. c. C. tenera, Deiv. Car. I. c. 8. p. 97 ; Schwein. <J- 

 Torr. Car. I. c. p. 319 ; Beck, hot. p. 435. C. adusta, Boott in Hook.fl. Bor-Am. 2. p. 215 

 (fide Tuckerm.). 



var. festucacea : spikelets 4-12, green, obovoid, more or less clavate, somewhat approxi- 

 mate ; perigynia with a less conspicuous beak, erect. — Tuckerm. I. c. C. festucacea, Schk. 

 Car. t. Www./. 173 ; Dew. I. c. (in part); Schivein. <§• Torr. I. c. (in part). 



var. mirabilis : spikelets 8-12, green, roundish -ovoid, closely aggregated ; perigvnia 

 ovate, a little smaller and narrower, finally spreading. — Tuckerm. I. c. C. mirabilis, Dew. 

 I. c. 3. p. 63. 



var. cristata : spikelets 8-15, finally straw-colored, closely aggregated in a kind of head; 

 perigynia ovate, finally spreading. — Tuckerm. I.e. C. cristata, Schwein. anal. tab. 1. c. ; 

 Schwein. 3, Torr. I. c. p. 315. t. 2b. f. 1 ; Dew. Car. I. c. 10. p. 44. 



A variable species, but the numerous forms pass into each other. Perigynium many- 

 nerved, 2-toothed at the apex. Achenium obovoid or oblong-obovoid, lenticular, crowned with 

 the continuous style. 



Wet meadows and swamps : Yar.fosnea in salt-marshes on the seacoast. Fl. May - June. 

 Fr. June - July. 



