ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE GENUS CAREX. 
41 
slender lax peduncles, and pistillate scale often slightly awned,” 
alone apply to it. The fact is, that as a species it was not recog¬ 
nized until Dr. Gray saw it in ScKkuhr’s herbarium. Schkuhr’s 
fig. n. 170 had proved a stumbling-block. His usual accuracy had 
made it presumptuous to doubt him, and the abrupt gracile ros¬ 
trum to the obovate perigynium in his figure was like nothing 
that had been seen. Dr. Gray proved the inaccuracy of the figure; 
“ quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus.” The plant had, no doubt, 
been confounded with G. Hitchcockiana by Dewey. In Sill. v. 
2 ser. 176, where he notices the specimens from Sartwell as a va¬ 
riety of G. oligocarpa, he gives no reference to any previous de¬ 
scription of the typical form. I cannot see any propriety in 
making the larger and more perfect form a variety of the smaller 
form, and have therefore quoted Schkuhr’s figure under the var. 
minor, between which and the larger form there is in fact an in¬ 
sensible transition. G. oligocarpa and G. Hitchcockiana form, I 
think, a subgroup distinct from that of G. laxijlora and its allies. 
The perigynium is more of a spongy texture, and the thick callous 
orifice and the incrassate style are peculiar to them. The nerves 
are tortuous, and more like folds of the external membrane than 
the usual prominent vascular cords. 
94. C. Hitchcockiana (Dewey); spicis 4-5 rarius 3 
erectis, terminali mascula cylinclrica elongata peduncu- 
lata, vel ssepe abbreviata subsessili pallida, reliquis foe- 
mineis pallide viridibus oblongis 2-5-floris (flosculis al- 
ternatim dispositis, summa plerumque abortiva), supe- 
rioribus subapproximatis, infima remota breve exserte 
pedunculata; bracteis ssepe omnibus culmo longioribus 
subtus basi vaginisque scabris; stigmatibus 8 ; perigy- 
niis turgide ovalibus utrinque attenuatis obtuse triquetris 
apice excurvis, ore integro, creberrime striato-nervosis 
pallide viridibus demum ferrugineis, squama alba ovata 
acuta vel obtusa medio viridi trinervi longe valideque 
cuspidata apice ssepe ciliata longioribus vel infimis ( cus- 
pide ) brevioribus vel subaequantibus.—C. Hitchcockiana, 
Dewey, Sill. x. 274 ; Carey, 524; Sartwell, Dxs. n. 100. 
(Tab. C.) 
Hab. In America Boreali, in sylvis. New England 
to Kentucky. 
Culmus 1-1 |-ped., gracilis, firmus, stricte erectus, apice an- 
gulis acutis scabris, basi foliatus, vaginisque pallide ferrugineis 
scabris tectus; pars spicas gerens 2-5, rarius 12 poll, longa. 
Folia 1—2) lin. lata, culmo breviora, subtus basi vaginisque 
scabris. Bractea, ssepe omnes, culmo longiores, vel infima 
eo brevior, vaginatse, basi plerumque subtus scabra. Vagina 
undique scabrse : infima 4 lin. vel rarius 1) poll, longa. Pe- 
dunculus infimus ) vel 1-2 poll, longus. Spica mascula cy- 
lindrica, 12-14 lin. longa, sublineam lata, pedunculata, squa- 
mis pallide stramineis, apice albo-hyalinis, ciliolatis, obtusis, 
nervo infra apicem evanescente, vel in superioribus acutis 
paullo extra producto: vel ssepe abbreviata, 4-6 lin. longa, 
subsessilis, squamis albis, angustioribus, lanceolatis, acumina- 
tis, cuspidatis. Spica fceminea 3-8 lin. longge, 2 lin. !atm, 
2—5-florae, una vel altera florum apice abortiva, laxiflorse: su¬ 
periors plerumque approximate: infima ssepe remota, nun- 
quam radicalis, omnes ssepius breve vel infima plus minus 
longe exserte pedunculate. Squama foemineae ovate, acute 
vel obtuse, apice ciliolate, plus minus longe valide cuspidate, 
albe, medio viridi trinervi. Perigynium 2yy—,-y lin. longum, 
1-1 -to hn. latum, nervis (ut in C. oligocarpa) undulatis. 
Achenium (cum stipite - r '- (7 lin. longo) l T 7 - 0 - lin. longum, yy lin. 
latum, obtuse triquetrum, castaneum, basi styli obliqua apicu- 
latum. Stylus brevis, supra basin incrassatus. 
Aspectus omnino C. oligocarpa. Differt culmo apice ma- 
gis acute triquetro, scabro, basi vaginis pallide ferrugineis 
tecto; foliis sepe latioribus, basi subtus, bracteisque vaginis¬ 
que omnibus scabris; spicis foemineis paucifloris, flosculis al- 
ternatim dispositis, summis 1—2 fere semper abortivis; squa¬ 
mis apice ciliolatis, plerumque minus longe cuspidatis; peri- 
gyniis majoribus, apice semper excurvis, basi magis productis. 
95. C. Willdenowii (Schkuhr) ; spicis 2-5 remotis ra- 
dicalibus insequaliter plus minus longe pedunculatis pal- 
lidis erectis ovatis, simplicibus androgynis apice ssepe 
inconspicue imbricato masculis basi flosculis foemineis 
3—9 sublaxis instructis; stigmatibus 3 ; perigyniis ovali¬ 
bus biconvexis acuminato-longe-rostratis rostro margini- 
bus serratis, ore albo-hyalino integro oblique secto, gla- 
bris vel superne scabridis erectis membranaceis nervis 2 
marginalibus, squama albida medio viridi nervata ad ba¬ 
sin spicse lanceolata longe acuminata ssepe foliiformi plus 
minus brevioribus, ad apicem ejus interdum obtusa cili- 
olata longioribus.—C. Willdenowii, Sch/c. f. 145 ; Willcl. 
iv. 211 ; Kunth, 480; Muhl. 1. c. 230; Dewey, Sill. xi. 
311; Sc ho. et Tor. 295; Tor. Mon. 404; Carey, l.c. 
510; Sarhvell, Does, n. 7. (Tab. CL et CII.) 
TIab. In America septentrionali, in sylvis. New 
York, Sarhvell, to New Orleans, Drummond, n. 430. 
Caespitosa. Radix fibrosa. Culmus brevissimus, basi ru- 
dimentis foliorum ferrugineis foliisque vaginantibus tectus. 
Folia 1-11 lin. lata, plana, carinata, firma, pedunculis longi- 
ora. Pedunculi 2-4, monostacliyi, insequales, 1-8 poll, longi, 
debiles, triquetri, angulis acutis, albidis, scabris: infra spicam 
subito latioribus. Spica 5-7 lin. longse, basi 2-3 lin. latse, 
rarius composite: basi flosculis 3-9 laxe conti guis : pars sta- 
minifera 2-5) lin. longa, ) lin. lata. Rachis recta, angulis 
acutis. Squama mascula arete imbricatse, superne pallide 
strain inese, medio viridi: apice marginibusque late albo-hya- 
linse, nervo in fra apicem ciliatum evanescente. Squama fee- 
minea virides, margine albo-byalinse; inferiores ssepe 1-3, fo- 
liiformes, bracteas simulantes, spica longiores : infima interdum 
1) etiam 4 poll, longa: superiores lanceolatse, acutse, vel ob- 
tusissimse, nervo infra apicem evanescente. Perigynium (cum 
stipite yy lin. longo, rostro 1lin. longo) 2 T y lin. longum, 
T 7 lT lin. latum, achenium arete tegens: interdum “ racheola 
viridi, squamacea, achenium sequante ” (Tor.) : vel axi exserta 
spicam masculam vel androgynam ferente instructum (t. 102. 
u. et v.). Achenium 1 T y lin. longum, T " r lin. latum, ovale, 
obtusissime subtrigonum, angulis inconspicuis, faciebus con- 
vexis, fuscum, punctulatum, basi margine tumida insigni pal- 
lidiori cinctum. 
I have not chanced to detect the racheola within the perigy¬ 
nium, noticed by Dr. Torrey, and I infer, as in other species in 
which I have observed it, that it is not constant. Muhlenberg 
alludes to a variety with a linear subdistinct male spike, and three 
or four alternate female flowers. Elliott remarks,, that the only 
specimen he had of this species belonged to this variety. Mr. 
Curtis informs me that the specimen in Herb. Elliott, received 
from Pennsylvania, is G. Steudelii, Kunth, and I infer therefore 
that Muhlenberg’s variety belongs to that species. 
The G. Willdenowii, Dewey, Sill. ix. 258, “ perigyniis squama 
duplo vix longioribus,” Torrey refers to a variety of C. polytri- 
choides, to which Dewey says it is “closely related.” I am not 
aware of the limits of this species, and have given such as the spe¬ 
cimens in my herbarium warrant. Torrey in his Monograph gives 
a wider range; but at the date of that publication this species 
was confounded with G. Steudelii and G. Baclcii. 
The male apex of the spike on the shorter peduncles is often in¬ 
conspicuous, not reaching to the extremity of the upper perigynium. 
In the longer ones it is more developed, and is persistent after 
the fall of the mature perigynia. The axis of the female portion 
is straight, continuous with that of the male apex, and there can 
be no question as to the spike being simple; and analogy would 
M 
