Chapter C: ACUTIFORMIS, Ehrh. Stout, 2--3 deg. high; culm thick and sharp, mostly

smooth; leaves broad, flat and glaucous, much prolonged; spikes 3--5, all but the uppermost peduncled, spreading or drooping, narrowly cylindric (2--3' long), loosely flowered below; perigynium ovate, very strongly many-nerved, the short beak slightly toothed; scale rough-awned and longer than the perigynium. (C. paludosa, _Gooden_.)--Swales, Dorchester, and New Bedford, Mass. (Nat. from Eu.) The former station has been recently destroyed.

[*] 3. MICRORHYNCHAE.--[+] 1. _Atratae._

[++] _Alpine; plant small._

30. C. alpina, Swartz. Small and slender, 1/2--2 deg. high; culm thin and obtuse, smooth or roughish, naked above; leaves narrow and flat, shorter than the culm; spikes commonly 3, sometimes 2 or 4, aggregated, globular and very small, all closely sessile or rarely the lowest exceedingly short-stalked; perigynium orbicular or obovate, nerveless or nearly so, the short beak slightly notched, a little longer than the ovate and black mostly obtuse scale.--Isle Royale, L. Superior. (Eu.)

31. C. atrata, L., var. ovata, Boott. Very slender but erect, 1--2 deg. high; culm rather sharp, roughish above; leaves narrow but flat, shorter than the culm; spikes 3--5, all but the terminal one on slender stalks 1/2--2' long, drooping when mature, 1' long or less, ovate-oblong or short-cylindric, reddish-brown; perigynium broadly ovate, thin and puncticulate, very short-beaked, the orifice slightly notched; scale blunt, thin-margined, about as long as the perigynium. (C. atrata, _Man._)--White Mountains, N. H., Smugglers' Notch, Vt. (_Brainerd_), and northward.

[++][++] _Paludose; plant larger._

32. C. fusca, All. Rather slender but stiff, 1--3 deg. high; culm sharp, roughish above; leaves very narrow, rough, mostly shorter than the culm; spikes 2--4, the terminal rarely all staminate, all sessile and approximate or the lowest sometimes very short-stalked, varying from globular to narrowly cylindric (often becoming 11/2' long), dark brown or variegated; perigynium elliptic and beakless, whitish and granular, nearly nerveless, the orifice entire; staminate scales very long-lanceolate, the pistillate lance-ovate and very sharp, conspicuously longer than the perigynium. (C. Buxbaumii, _Wahl._)--Bogs, throughout; frequent. (Eu.)

[*] 3.--[+] 2. _Rigidae._

33. C. vulgaris, Fries. Low and stiff, about 1 deg. or sometimes 18' high; culm sharp, smooth or rather rough above; leaves narrow and stiff, shorter than the culm, glaucous blue; staminate spike sessile or nearly so; spikes 2--4, all sessile or rarely the lowest very short-stalked, short and erect (1' long or less), very densely flowered or sometimes becoming loose below, the lowest subtended by a bract 1--3' long; perigynium appressed, oval or round-ovate, mostly finely striate toward the base, the beak entire or very nearly so, bright green until over-mature; scale ovate and very obtuse, purple with a faint white nerve, conspicuously narrower and shorter than the perigynium, thus causing the spike in the growing plant to assume a characteristic green-and-black appearance.--Swales and low meadows along the sea-board, from Mass. northward; common. (Eu.)

Var. strictiformis, Bailey. Taller (11/2--21/2 deg. high) and looser; culms slender; leaves long and narrow, lax, scarcely glaucous; staminate spike longer peduncled; pistillate spikes looser and often longer, mostly brown or tawny-green. (C. limula, _Man._)--Swales from E. Penn. northward, near the seaboard; frequent. Often confounded with n. 34, but easily distinguished by the non-cespitose habit, sheaths not fibrillose, and the short scales very obtuse.

Var. hyperborea, Boott. Somewhat stoloniferous, low, often smaller than the type; spikes shorter and mostly loosely flowered, often becoming very thin; scales generally longer, giving the spikes a darker color; stigmas often 3. (C. rigida, var. (?) Bigelovii, _Tuckerm._)--Alpine summits of N. H., Vt., and N. Y. (Eu.)

[*] 3.--[+] 3. _Acutae._

[++] _Stigmas 2; scales not conspicuously acute, or if so, divaricate._

[=] _Spikes erect, or rarely spreading in n. 34._

34. C. stricta, Lam. Tall and slender but erect, 2--4 deg. high, generally in dense clumps when old, or rarely in small tufts; culm sharp, rough above; leaves long and narrow, rough on the edges, the lowest sheaths usually becoming prominently fibrillose; 1 or 2 lowest bracts leafy and equalling the culm; spikes 3--5, variable in size and shape, scattered, the lowest usually more or less peduncled and clavate and the others sessile, erect or spreading, oblong or cylindric (1/2--2' long and 2--3'' broad), all compactly flowered above but often attenuate at base (or rarely alternate-flowered throughout), the upper mostly staminate at top, all greenish-purple or pallid; perigynium ovate and small, tawny, mostly lightly few-nerved and somewhat granular, the beak very short and commonly entire; scale obtuse to nearly acute, about equalling the perigynium or a little shorter.--Swales, throughout; abundant and variable.

Var. angustata. Stricter; spikes longer and narrower (3--4' long about 11/2'' broad), never clavate, more approximate and always erect, the staminate portion usually much longer (often 1--2'), rust-colored; scales narrower and sharper, mostly longer than the perigynium. (C. angustata, _Boott_, in part.)--Same range as the type, but less common.

Var. decora, Bailey. Usually smaller; basal sheaths rarely fibrillose; spikes shorter (seldom over 1' long), sessile or very nearly so, rarely attenuate at base, spreading, the terminal staminate flowers few, rust-colored; bracts more spreading; scales very sharp and spreading, longer than the perigynium. (C. aperta, _Man._)--N. Eng. to Wisc.; rather rare.