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MEMOIRS OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN 



[VOL. 10 



nated by previous authors, but most of these are minor variants that have no 

 geographical differences and only slight morphological variation. The one ex- 

 ception being var. prolifera, which probably represents a diseased or malformed 

 specimen. 



6. Luzula plumosa Wall, ex E. Mey. 



Perennial; caespitose, sometimes rhizomes and stolons present, these similar, 

 but the stolons are longer, to 3 cm long, with dark brown scale-like leaves and 

 slender adventitious roots; blades of the basal leaves flat, 2-6 (rarely 11) mm 

 wide, to 15 (rarely 20) cm long, margins pubescent, apex callose-tipped ; culms 

 erect, slender, smooth, 20-40 cm tall, bearing 2-4 leaves; sheaths closed, pubes- 

 cent at the throat with long white hairs; blades linear, 2-5 (rarely 8) mm wide, 

 to 7 cm long, margins sparsely pubescent, callose-tipped; inflorescence terminal, 

 compound (rarely decompound in var. reflexa) ; pedicels erect to slightly spread- 

 ing (strongly nodding to reflexed in varieties reflexa and hrevipes); basal bract 

 erect, shorter than the inflorescence, leaf-like, green, margins sparsely pubescent, 

 callose-tipped ; other bracts of the inflorescence shorter, light brown to stramine- 

 ous ; inner bract at the base of each pedicel truncate with a hyaline tip, glabrous 

 to pubescent ; outer bracts shorter to longer than the inner, tip acuminate, mar- 

 gins pubescent ; bracteoles lanceolate, acuminate, glabrous, light brown to stra- 

 mineous with wide hyaline margins, half as long as the flowers; perianth seg- 

 ments similar, rarely the petals are shorter than the sepals, lanceolate, entire, 

 usually awned or the inner frequently unawned, dark brown to purple with a 

 narrow hyaline margin, 3-4 (rarely 4.3) mm long; stamens 6 shorter than the 

 perianth, filaments linear white, anthers linear half as long to longer than the 

 filaments ; pistil erect, style filiform less than 1 mm long, stigmas 3 erect 2 mm 

 long or less ; fruits shorter to longer than the perianth, apex extended by a 

 short persistent base of the style, subtruncate to acute, light brown; seeds 1.5 

 mm long, purple to black ; caruncle at apex and side of the seed, erect to strongly 

 hooked, narrow to as wide as the seed, 0.7-1.5 mm long. 



Key to the Varieties 



Basal leaves more than 6 mm wide ; inflorescence compound to decompound ; caruncle 



hooked, as long as the seed. var. reflexa. 



Basal leaves less than 6 mm wide; inflorescence compound, never decompound; carun- 

 cle strongly hooked to erect, as long as the seed or shorter. 

 2. Pedicels erect to slightly nodding, never reflexed; caruncle as long as the seed, 



hoofced. var. plumosa. 



2. Pedicels nodding to reflexed ; caruncle shorter than the seed, erect to slightly 



curved. var. hrevipes. 



6a. Luzula plumosa Wall, ex E. Mey. var. plumosa 



Luzula plumosa Wall, ex E. Mey. Linnaea 22: 387. 1849. 



J uncus plumosus Wall, ex E. Mey. Linnaea 22: 387. 1849. (as a synonym of L. plumosa.) 

 Luzula pilosa (L.) Willd. var. plumosa (Wall. ex. E. Mey.) Eranchet, PI. David. 2: 138, 

 1888. 



Jvncodes plumosum (Wall, ex E. Mey.) O. Ktze. Rev. Gen. PI. 2: 725. 1891. 



This variety is distributed throughout the Himalayan Mountains in north- 

 ern India, Tibet, Nepal and China (Fig. 6). Most of the specimens examined 

 were collected between 5,000 and 10,000 feet. This variety can easily be distin- 

 guished from varietjr reflexa by its narrower leaves and erect to slightly spread- 



