22 
Holm, The genus Carex in North-West America. 
Northern hemisphere, though so very seldom accompanied by 
C. stygia. 
Types of this grex peculiar to our region are, thus, C. cryjjto- 
chlaeiia, macrochaeta, nesophila, aperta and partly also siygia and 
cryptocarpa; characteristic of these are the very dark-colored spikes, 
a feature common to boreal species. 
Carices cenchr o'carp ae. 
None of the members of this grex can be looked upon as 
types of our region. It is, however interesting to notice the occur- 
rence of the two ..formae hehetatae" C. bicolor and aurea, besides 
the representatives of the various groups including C. livida, Craivei 
and polymorplia. Totally absent is, however, the tetanica-grou^ 
and the formae desciscentes'’. 
Carle es lej ochlaenae. 
Three „formae hehetatae“ and only one ,,forma centralis'’ 
represent the grex in this region. Of these C. Hendersonii is the 
only northwestern type, and it is closely related to C. laxiflora, 
especially to the var. patulifolia, but distinct from this by its 
larger perigynium, which is niore prominently nerved and more 
gradually contracted at both ends; the spikes are more densely 
flowered and borne on shorter peduncles. 
Carices dactylostachyae. 
The grex is but poorly represented within our region, and 
although the species belong to the Western Flora, none of these 
are characteristic of the region, at least not in the stricter sense 
of the Word. 
Carices microcarpae. 
C. cinnamomea is the only species of the grex, that has been 
found in the region; the cinnamon-colored spikes make it readily 
distinguished from the light green C. strigosa and gracilUma. 
Carices athroch laenae. 
Although the geographical center of C. nigricans may be looked 
for in this region, its present wide distribution in the east and 
South prevents us from considering it as a northwestern type. As 
'described by C. A. Meyer the species has an androgynous spike, 
in which the pistillate flowers are very numerous and conspieuous, 
often more so than the staminate. Nevertheless purely pistillate 
Spikes do occur, and such specimens were collected in the Chilli- 
wack valley and in the Selkirk Mountains (British Columbia). In 
other specimens from the Kootanie Pass in the Rocky Mountains 
(B. C.) the majority of the flowers were staminate, and the pistillate 
very few in number. The plant thus varies from monoecious to 
dioecious, of which, however, the former is.the most frequent and 
represents, no doubt, the typical stage of the species. 
Carices stenocarpae. 
Two of the formae hehetatae C. lejocarpa and circinata are 
types of this region, accompanied by C. misandra^ while C. luzu- 
laefolia and ahlata occur in some of the other western States. It 
