Chapter C: HIRTA, L. Variable in size ({1/2}--2 deg. high), widely creeping; culm

rather slender but erect, obtuse and smooth or slightly rough above; leaves soft and flat, generally sparsely hairy and the sheaths very hirsute, rarely smooth; spikes 2--3, distant, more or less shortly-peduncled, erect or nearly so, 11/2' long or less and rather loose; perigynium long-ovate, nerved, soft-hairy, the prominent beak slenderly toothed; scale thin and green-nerved, awned, mostly a little shorter.--E. Mass. to central N. Y. and Penn. (Nat. from Eu.)

[*] 2.--[+] 4. _Paludosae._

[++] _Teeth slender, mostly spreading._

28. C. trichocarpa, Muhl. Stout and tall, 2--3 deg. high; culm sharply angled, rough above; leaves very numerous, flat and very rough, but not hairy, much exceeding the culm; spikes 2--5, scattered, the lower stalked and more or less spreading, long and heavy (1--4') but loosely flowered at base; perigynium long-ovate, many-costate, sparsely short-hairy, about twice as long as the membranaceous, acute or acuminate scale.--Marshes; frequent.--Var. IMBERBIS, Gray. Mostly smaller throughout; perigynium smooth; scales usually sharper and longer. Drier places, N. Y. to Mo.; infrequent.

Var. Deweyi, Bailey. Leaves narrower, often becoming somewhat involute, smoother; spikes short (seldom over 11/2' long), all but the lowest one sessile; perigynium smooth, thick in texture, becoming polished with age, the nerves impressed; scales sharp, mostly a little shorter than the perigynium.--Dakota (_Seymour_), and northwestward. Resembles small forms of n. 29.

Var. aristata, Bailey. Mostly stouter; leaves more or less hairy on the under surface and sheaths; perigynium usually longer, smooth, the teeth longer and more spreading. (C. aristata, _R. Br._)--N. Eng. to Minn.; rare eastward.

[++][++] _Teeth short, erect or very nearly so._

29. C. riparia, W. Curtis. Very large and stout, 2--4 deg. high, stoloniferous; leaves mostly broad, flat, rough, glaucous, much longer than the sharply angled culm; spikes 2--4, scattered and all more or less peduncled, the lowest often very long-stalked, varying from almost globular in starved plants to 3--4' long, erect or the lower somewhat drooping, loosely flowered below; perigynium ovate-lanceolate, coriaceous, rather lightly many-nerved, becoming polished, the beak short and thick; scale varying from blunt to awned, shorter or longer than the perigynium.--Swales; common. (Eu.)