Chapter C: BULLATA x UTRICULATA, Bailey. Perigynium considerably smaller and

more spreading, less shining; scales longer and sharper. (C. Olneyi, _Boott_.)--Providence, R. I. (_Olney_).

15. C. retrorsa, Schwein. Stout, 2--3 deg. high; culm obtusely angled and smooth or nearly so; leaves broad and soft, roughish, much longer than the culm; spikes 3--5, approximate near the top of the culm or the lowest remote, all but the lowest 1 or 2 sessile, 1--2' long and very compactly flowered, erect or spreading; perigynium very thin and papery, much inflated, prominently nerved, strongly reflexed; scale very short and small.--Swamps, from Penn. northward; common.--In var. HARTH, Gray, a common monstrous form, the spikes are more or less scattered and peduncled, loosely flowered, and the perigynium less reflexed or spreading.

[=][=] _Scales all rough-awned._

16. C. lurida, Wahl. Variable in size, mostly ranging from 11/2--3 deg. high, stout; culm rather obtusely angled and smooth; leaves long and loose, rough; spikes 2--4, variously disposed, the 1 or 2 upper sessile, nearly erect or often drooping, very densely flowered; perigynium thin and turgid, often somewhat shining, rather lightly about 10-nerved, very long and slenderly beaked, ascending; staminate spike single, scales linear, half as long as the perigynium or more. (C. tentaculata, _Muhl._)--Swamps, N. Eng. to S. Ill., and southward; abundant eastward. Very variable.--Var. GRACILIS, Bailey. Plant more slender; spikes 2--3, very small and narrowly cylindrical (1' long or less, and 3'' broad or less). Mts. of Vt., Penn., and Tenn.

Var. flaccida, Bailey. Lower, scarcely exceeding 12--15' in height; spikes 2--4, all sessile and approximate at the top of the culm, small and straight (1' long or less), dull brown or reddish-brown, loosely flowered and entirely lacking the dense and comose appearance of the type; perigynium very thin and much inflated, the body usually larger than in the type and more gradually contracted into the beak.--N. Y. to N. J.; apparently scarce.