ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE GENUS CAREX. 
117 
coloribus, inferioribus subinde discretis compositisque, 
infima mine anguste longiuscule bracteata; perigyniis 
ellipticis vel lanceolatis sensim plus minus rostratis 
utrinque nervatis anguste alatis ciliolatis, squama ovata 
subacuta vel acuminata longioribus.-—C. lagopodioides, 
Schlc.f. 177 ; Willd. 230 ; Kuntli, 398 ; Dewey, viii. 95 ; 
fichw. et Tor. 313 ; Carey, 515 ; Sartwell, Dxs. n. 42. 
C. scoparia, j3, Tor. Mon. 394 ; S, Tuck. Dnum. Chap. 535. 
C. tribuloides, Wahl. Act. 145. (Tab. CCCLXX.) 
Hab. America septentrionali. Canada to S. Carolina. 
California, Thurher. 
Culm,us 2-2^-pedalis, validus, scaber. Folia 11-3 tin. lata, 
apice attenuata, elongata; vaginis triquetris, laxis, apice am- 
pliatis. Spica 14 lin. ad 2 pollices longa, 6-8 lin. lata. Brac- 
tea subinde foliacea. Perigynium l-fl—2~V bn. longum, T 5 0 - 
-f lin. latum. Achenium lin. longum, -f lin. latum. 
It varies in a shorter, broader, elliptic perigynium, or a longer, 
narrower, lanceolate one, with a more attenuated rostrum. 
A C. scoparia dignoscitur culmo validiore; foliis latioribus, 
longioribus, apice attenuatis, vaginisque triquetris laxis ; spica 
majore, pluristachya, pallide viridi; perigyniis minoribus, an- 
gustioribus, ssepe minus attenuato-rostratis, magis apertis • 
squamis minoribus.—Yariat spica angustiore ; spiculis basi 
conica masculis, inferioribus 4-6 alternatim discretis; culmo 
elatiore, flaccido. (Tab. CCCLXXI. No. 1.) 
* 
The variety is found “in moist shady borders of the forest,” 
TucJcerman. In a poor soil the spike is abbreviated, with fewer 
spiculse. It resembles C. festucacea and C. mirabilis. 
The specimens figured are,— 
Tab. CCCLXX. From Sartwell; and in one the lower spicula 
is remote on a long exserted peduncle! showing, in these andro¬ 
gynous species, the same tendency in the upper vaginae of leaves 
to produce spiculse, as is so often seen in the higher groups of the 
genus. 
Tab. CCCLXXI. 1. Specimens from Tuckerman: the variety 
with the narrow spike and lower subremote spiculse. 2. Specimens 
from Drummond, Texas, of C. straminea, var.; the C. hyalina, 
Boott, Boston Journ. Nat. Hist. v. (1845). 
276. C. cristata (Scliweinitz) ; spicis 8-12 pluribusve 
rigidis squarrosis rotundis arete congestis obtusis pallide 
viridibus subinde infima foliaceo-bracteata; perigyniis 
oblongo-ovalibus vel ovatis rostratis anguste alatis cilio¬ 
latis sursum serratis utrinque nervatis apertis vel subre- 
curvis, squama lanceolata obtusa mutica longioribus.— 
C. cristata, Schoemitz, An. Tab. ; Schw. et Tor. 315. t. 
25. f. 1 ; Dewey, x. 44 ; Sartwell, Dxs. n. 43. C. la¬ 
gopodioides, var., Carey. C. straminea, £, Tuck. C. 
remotiuscula, Wahl. Act. 147 ? (Tab. CCCLXXII., 
CCCLXXIII.) 
Hab. America septentrionali. Arctic America to 
Pennsylvania. Oregon, Lyall. Siberia, Wall. 
Culmus 2-2^-pedalis, rigidus, ssepe validus, acute triqueter, 
scaberrimus. Folia 1-3 lin. lata, elongata, apice attenuata; 
vaginis triquetris, laxis. Bractea infima nunc foliacea, spicam 
duplo superante. Spica 10 lin. ad 1| pollicem longa, 4-6 lin. 
lata. Squamce obtusse. Perigynium 1 T " 0 —W lin. longum, T S n 
lin. latum, utrinque crebre nervosum, anguste alatum, ad mar- 
gines basi ciliolatum, sursum serratum, divergens vel recurva- 
tum. Achenium 7 7 0 lin. longum, T \ lin. latum, obovatum, 
ferrugineum. 
Ad C. lagopodioidem propius accedit quoad culmum, folia, 
vaginas, et inflorescentiam. Differt spiculis minoribus rotundis 
rigidis, perigyniis ovatis recurvatis. 
I have a specimen from M. Fischer, of Moscow, with a ticket, 
“ C. festucacea, Heming legit.” Heming travelled to the south 
of the river Don, and I infer that the specimen is from that lo¬ 
cality, and probably is the C. remotiuscula of Wahlenberg, Act. 
Holm. 147, which is referred to Siberia, and by Sprengel also to 
North America. It is not included in the ‘ Flora Rossica,’ where 
it is merely alluded to as possibly a form of C. remota, L. I have 
the same plant from the garden of my late friend Edward Forster, 
Esq., under the name of C. festucacea, and he received it from Mr. 
Borrer, who thought the seeds came from the north of Europe. 
In Tab. CCCLXXIII. are specimens figured from the Paris Gar¬ 
den, exactly agreeing with those from M. Fischer and Mr. Forster, 
and differing only from the American C. cristata in having a nar¬ 
rower spike with smaller and more alternating spiculm, such in 
fact as are occasionally observable in American specimens. 
I am indebted to M. Spach for the following detailed descrip¬ 
tion of the plant, as growing in the ITort. Mus, Paris, which is 
valuable as showing its affinity to C. lagopodioides — 
“ Planta dense csespitosa, fasciculorum sterilium loco, agens 
culmos steriles creberrimos, culmis spicigeris inordinatim inter- 
mixtos, simulque cum istis ortos, 1^-pedales, ad apicem usque 
foliosos, ubique foliorum vaginis obtectos, gemma foliari indefinite 
excrescente terminatos. Folia rigidula, infima brevia, sequentia 
gradatim longiora: fasciculorum sterilium superiora 4-5 in fasci- 
culum approximata. Yaginse foliorum insigniter carinato-triquetrse, 
laxse, sursum sensim ampliat®, dorso carinatse. Culmi spicigeri 
acute triquetri, secus apicem fere tripteri, faciebus planis, ple- 
rumque carinato-costatis: angulis scabris: pars foliosa obtusa 
trigona. Spica plus minus tortuosa, imoque fractifiora (eo mani- 
festius quo laxius), speciminibus gracilioribus cernua, oblique por- 
recta. Spiculm nunc laxe remotge, nunc plus minus confertse, tri- 
stiche alternae (ita ut plerumque spicula quarta spiculse infimmsu- 
perpositur), volumine vario; forma ludentes, ab exacte sphseroidea 
ad ovoideam et ovalem vel turbinatam, basi nunc angustatse, nunc 
rotundatse. Spicula terminalis plerumque clavata. Perigynia 
ssepissime jam juvenilia patentia, excepto summa baud raro minus 
divergentia vel interdum suberecta; accedente maturitate plus 
minusve recurva, infima baud raro subdeflexa. Rarius observantur 
spiculse etiam maturitate perfecta, perigyniis omnibus vel saltern 
plerisque vix aut- ne vix divergentibus, vel perigyniis inferioribus 
erectis, superioribus plus minusve divergentibus.” 
M. Spach adds the further evidence that C. cristata is allied to 
C. lagopodioides, as Carey thought, rather than to C. straminea. 
He says :—“Culmi steriles C. cristatce, eodem modo ut C. lagopo- 
dioidis, omni evolutionis statu facillime a C. straminea distin- 
guunt; vaginseque C. straminece nec triquetrse nec laxse et sursum 
ampliores, ita ut specimen vivum imo juvenile hujus speciei cum 
C. cristata confundere non licet. C. lagopodioides autein quoad 
culmum, folia eorumque vaginas, et perigyniorum directionem 
eodem modo se habet ac C. cristata —nam spiculse, perigyniis om¬ 
nibus erectis vel parum divergentibus, plus minus squarrosse, fre- 
quentius in C. lagopodioide occurrunt.” 
As future researches into the intricacies of this puzzling group 
can alone satisfactorily fix its limits, I leave the question of speci¬ 
fic claims to those who can study it in its varied native haunts 
feeling at the same time that its transitions from one form or 
habit to another, whether considered as varieties or species, are 
equally interesting and important. 
The specimens figured are,— 
Tab. CCCLXXII. From Ohio, Sullivant. 
Tab. CCCLXXIII. From the Paris Garden; like the C. festu¬ 
cacea, Fischer, from Ileming, and Hort. Borrer, and Forster. 
In Tab. CCCLXXIY, are specimens of C. mirabilis, Dewey, 
No. 1, from Dewey; 2, per Dr. Barrett; 3, Ohio, Sullivant; and, 
4, New Jersey, Kneiskern. 
Spicis 5-12 pallide viridibus subrotundis basi parce masculis 
coarctatis vel inferioribus vel omnibus discretis nudis vel setaceo- 
bracteatis ; perigyniis ovatis vel suborbiculatis sensim plus minus 
attenuato-rostratis anguste alatis apertis, squama acuta longiori- 
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