398 



CYPERACE.E. 



Carex. 



60. Carex aristata, R. Br. 



Awned Sedge. 



Sterile spikes 2 4 ; fertile 2-4, distant, the upper ones sessile, lower on partly exserted 

 peduncles, cylindrical, erect ; perigynium somewhat inflated, tapering to a long conical beak, 

 smooth, many-nerved, the beak deeply 2-cleft, with spreading segments, one third longer than 

 the ovate-lanceolate awned scale ; sheaths and under surface of the leaves pubescent. — R. 

 Br. in Richards, app. Frankl. narr. ed. 2. p. 36 ; Schwein. Sf Torr. Car. 1. c. p. 364 ; 

 Dew. Car. I. c. 11. p. 161, and 27. p. 240. t. 5./. 67 ; Gray in ann. lyc. N. Y. 3. p. 237 ; 

 Kunth, enum. 2. p. 519. C. atherodes, Spreng. syst. 3. p. 828. C. mirata, Dew. I. c. 49. 

 p. 48. 



Culm 2-3 feet high, leafy, smooth, triquetrous. Leaves 2-3 lines wide ; the under 

 surface and the sheaths sparsely pubescent. Staminate spikes elongated, cylindrical, one or 

 more of them often bearing some fertile flowers ; the scales linear-lanceolate. Fertile spikes 

 2-3 inches long, for the most part rather loosely flowered ; the peduncles of the lower ones 

 very little exserted. Perigynia about one third of an inch long, many-nerved, ovoid below, 

 and gradually tapering into a long conical -subulate beak, the extremity of which is con- 

 spicuously 2-forked. Scale sometimes nearly or quite as long as the perigynium ; the extremity 

 subulate-bristleform and rough. Achenium oblong-triquetrous, smoothish, somewhat pedicellate. 



Watertown, Jefferson county (Dr. Crawe) ; Shore of Lake Ontario (Dr. Sartwell), ac- 

 cording to Prof. Dewey. A very rare species ; found also in British America. It is allied 

 both to C. trichocarpa and C. lacustris. 



Cespitose ; fertile spikes mostly 4, ovoid, few-flowered, one or two of them nearly sessile on 

 the upper part of the culm, the others on subradical peduncles ; perigynium ovoid, acuminate- 

 rostrate, somewhat roughly pubescent, obscurely and sparingly nerved, about as long as the 

 ovate acuminate scale. — Schk. in Willd. sp. 4. p. 290, and Car. t. Www. f. 171 ; Pursh, 

 fi. 1. p. 44 ; Mulil. gram. p. 256 ; Dew. Car. I. c. 10. p. 31, and 11. p. 316. t. D. /. 13 ; 

 Schivein. <§• Torr. Car. I. c. p. 352 ; Kunth, enum. 2. p. 443. 



Culms in dense tufts, from scarcely an inch to six inches or more in height. Leaves all 

 radical, about a line wide, rough, much taller than the culm. Staminate spike single, about 

 half an inch long, on a short mostly oblique peduncle, at the base of which is a single sessile 

 fertile spike, and sometimes, a little distance below it, another on a short peduncle. Staminate 

 scales ovate-lanceolate. Radical fertile spikes mostly 3, on slender erect peduncles of nearly 

 equal length, and appearing somewhat umbellate. Sometimes the peduncles are so short that 

 the spikes are nearly concealed by the leaves. Fertile scales often a little longer than the 

 perigynium, pale. Perigynium about a line and a half long, with a short abrupt beak, very 

 thin and membranaceous, attenuated at the base, margined, clothed with a short roughish 

 sparse pubescence. Achenium rather obtusely triangular, scabrous. Style swollen toward 

 the base, articulated. 



Rocky hillsides : rather frequent. Fl. May. Fr. June. 



61. Carex umbellata, Schk. 



Umbel-spiked Sedge. 



