18 
Hol m, The genus Carex in North-West America. 
Carices micr orhyncha e. 
The grex is well represented and consists of several peculiar 
and apparently distinct species, some of which are near allies of 
C. vulgaris, others of C. aguatilis or of C. acutina. Of these 
C. prionophylla is peculiar to Idaho, where it occurs on the banks 
of Yankee Fork, above Custer, at an elevation of 2,000 m., and in 
the region of Coeur d’Alene Mountains, near mountain streams 
(c. 1,500 m.). The eulms 'are aphyllopodic thus resembling those 
of C. stricta, angustata and caespitosa, but the very short spikes, 
the acuminate, sharply pointed scales, the purplish spotted peri- 
gyniä and very scabrous scale-like leaves at the base of the eulms 
make the species distinct from these. In C. Ingens from Alaska 
and Yukon we meet with a species which in regard to the spikes 
reminds of C, caespitosa, but the eulms are phyllopodic. Typical 
G, vulgaris has been collected in a few places in Alaska (Dali 
River trail, Wrangell and Unalaska), but the variety lipocaipa is 
exceedingly common, especially in Washington; it has, furthermore 
been recorded from some few stations in Montana, Wyoming and 
Colorado, but seems to be most widely distributed in our region. 
The two other varieties: limnopliila and liydropliila are known from 
Alaska and Yukon. 
As indicated by the name „lipocarpa^‘ the perigynia are early 
deciduous; they are prominently stipitate, elliptical, many-nerved 
and extended into a relatively long beak. This variety was for- 
merly considered identical with the South-American C. deciclua. 
The variety limnopliila is a plant of low stature with the terminal 
spike mostly gynaecandrous, and with the perigynium nerved, 
denticulate near the beak and purplish spotted; it bears a strong 
resemblance to Drejer’s C. rufina, which some Scandinavian 
authors' are inclined to refer to C. vulgaris as a reduced form. 
While habitally distinct from these American varieties of G. vul¬ 
garis the European exhibit the same structure of the perigynium 
in regard to the presence or absence of nerves, but the beak and 
the stipe are usually much shorter in these, and the body of the 
perigynium much broader. 
As near allies of G. vulgaris may be enumerated G. limnaea, 
gymnoclada and lorachypoda. The first of these is a slender, very 
graceful species and much more so than any specimen of vulgaris 
examined; the perigynia are slightly spreading, stipitate, promi¬ 
nently many-nerved, and the scales are black with hyaline apex. 
The species is known from the mountains of Oregon. G. gymno- 
clada is, also, a somewhat slender plant with a long, naked culm, 
and with the perigynia rhombic-oval, obscurely two-nerved and 
denticulate near the beak; the species has been collected in the 
mountains of Oregon and Washington, in bogs, meadows and 
along streams in the subalpine regions. The third species, G. 
hrachypoda, is only known from Oregon, and differs from C. 
noclada by the habit and by the structure of the perigynium, 
being almost orbicular, sessile and nerveless. When compared 
with the other Microrhynchae of our region, these three species 
naturally stand between G. vidgaris and rigida, while their old- 
