Carex. 



CYPERACE.E. 



411 



88. Carex arctata, Boott. 



Short-beaked Wood Sedge. 



Sterile spike single, cylindrical ; fertile 3-4, remote, on long nodding peduncles, slender, 

 rather loosely flowered, attenuate at the base ; perigynia ovoid-elliptical, triquetrous, nerved, 

 the beak short, slightly 2-toothed at the orifice, longer than the ovate acuminate mucronate 

 scale. — Boott in Hook. fl. Bor.-Am. 2. p. 227. C. sylvatica, Dew. Car. I. c. 10. p. 40 ; 

 Schwein. 6f Torr. Car. I. c. p. 350, not of Huds. 



Culm 9-18 inches high, slender, leafy, triquetrous. Leaves 2-3 lines wide, pale green, 

 and somewhat glaucous, shorter than the culm. Sterile spike about three fourths of an inch 

 long, slender, sometimes bearing a few fertile flowers : scales lanceolate, pale with a green 

 keel. Fertile spikes commonly 4, from an inch to an inch and a half long and about 2 lines 

 in diameter, at first erect, but finally more or less cernuous ; the flowers alternate, and some- 

 what remote toward the base. Peduncles filiform, much exserted. Scales abruptly acuminate, 

 the point ending in a cusp or short awn, whitish and membranaceous, with a green keel. 

 Perigynium about 2 lines long, with a few but distinct nerves, green when young, but finally 

 brownish, about one third longer than the scale. Achenium obovoid-triquetrous. 



Moist woods and meadows ; northern and western parts of the State. Fl. May. Fr. June. 

 This species was confounded with C. sylvatica, till it was separated by Dr. Boott. The latter 

 is stouter, the fertile spikes more compact, the beak much longer, etc. Sometimes, however, 

 I find specimens that seem to be intermediate between this plant and C. debilis. 



89. Carex debilis, Michx. Weak Sedge. 



Sterile spike solitary, pedunculate ; fertile mostly 4, on long nodding peduncles, remote, 

 filiform, the flowers alternate on a flexuous rachis ; perigynium oblong, smooth, attenuated at 

 each end, slightly bifid, twice as long as the ovate-lanceolate mucronate scale. — Michx. fl. 2. 

 p. 172 ; Torr. Cyp. p. 416 ; Boott in Hook. fl. Bor.-Am. 2. p. 216. C. tenuis, Rudge in 

 Linn, trans. 7. p. 96. t. 9. /. 2. G. flexuosa, Muhl. in Willd. sp. 4. p. 297 ; Schk. Car. 

 t. Ddd. <Sf Aaaa./. 124; Pursh,fl. I. p. 43; Muhl. gram. p. 253 ; Dew. Car. I c. 10. p. 40; 

 Schwein. <J- Torr. Car. I. c. p. 351 ; Darlingt. fl. Cest. p. 39 ; Kunth, enum. 2. p. 471. 



Culm 1-2 feet high, weak and slender, leafy, smoothish. Leaves about two lines wide. 

 Sterile spike very slender, elongated, rarely bearing a few fertile flowers : scales lanceolate, 

 obtuse, pale. Fertile spikes 3-4, an inch and a half or two inches long, 10 - 18-flowered ; 

 the filiform exserted peduncles an inch or more in length. Scales acuminate, light brown with 

 the keel green. Perigynium 2\ lines long, somewhat fusiform, very acute at each end, ob- 

 tusely triangular, nerved. Achenium ovoid-triquetrous, smooth, brown when old. Style slender, 

 continuous. 



Moist woods and meadows : common. Fl. May. Fr. June. 



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