Chapter C: DEBILIS x VIRESCENS, Bailey. Plant slender and very green; leaves

flat, rough, mostly longer than the culm, spikes 2--3, 2' long, thin and slender, erect or nearly so, the terminal one bearing a few pistillate flowers at top; perigynium exactly intermediate between the two species, lance-ovate, nerved and slightly hairy, short-beaked, thin, twice longer than the scale.--Revere, near Boston, Mass. (_Faxon_).

[++][++] _Perigynium firm, prominently many-nerved._

53. C. venusta, Dewey, var. minor, Boeckl. Slender but strict, 11/2--2 deg. high; leaves narrow and strict, about as long as the culm; spikes 1--2' long, scattered, the upper usually ascending, the terminal one sometimes staminate at top; perigynium ascending, the very short and stout beak prominently toothed, thrice longer than the rusty narrow scale. (C. glabra, _Boott_.)--Sphagnous swamps, Oneida Co., N. Y., N. J., and southward; local.

[*] 4.--[+] 5. _Gracillimae._

[++] _Perigynium small, scarcely turgid._

54. C. aestivalis, M. A. Curtis. Slender but erect, 1--11/2 deg. high; leaves very narrow, flat, shorter than the culm, the sheaths pubescent; spikes 3--4, erect or spreading, 1--2' long and very loosely flowered, all but the lowest short-stalked; perigynium very small, ovate, scarcely pointed and the orifice entire, few-nerved, about twice longer than the obtuse scale.--Saddle Mountain, W. Mass., and southward in the mountains to N. C.; rare.

55. C. gracillima, Schwein. Tall and slender, sometimes diffuse, 11/2--3 deg. high; leaves broad and flat (the radical about 3'' wide), very dark and bright green; spikes 3--4, scattered, the terminal rarely staminate, densely flowered except at base, peduncled and drooping, green; perigynium ovate, thin and slightly swollen, nerved, obtuse, orifice entire, twice longer than the very obtuse scale.--Woodlands and low meadows, throughout; common.--In poorer soil and sunny places, it runs into var. HUMILIS, Bailey, and is then smaller, has much narrower leaves and very small erect spikes (2--12-flowered), and mostly smaller perigynia.

C. GRACILLIMA x HIRSUTA, Bailey. In habit like var. humilis; spikes tawny; perigynium like that of C. triceps, var. hirsuta; plant smooth, or very minutely pubescent under a strong lens.--Philipstown, N. Y. (_Barratt_).