Chapter C: ARCTATA x CASTANEA, Bailey. Leaves mostly narrower, less hairy or

smooth; spikes very slender and loosely flowered (scarcely over 1'' wide), erect or drooping, chestnut color; perigynium thin, long-ovate, shorter-beaked, lightly nerved, mostly surpassing the pointed whitish scale. (C. Knieskernii, _Dewey_.)--Oneida Co., N. Y.; Keweenaw Co., Mich. (_Farwell_); N. Minn.

50. C. capillaris, L. Very slender but erect, 2--12' high; culm smooth, longer than the narrow flat or at length involute leaves; spikes 2--4, either scattered or approximate, all more or less long-peduncled and drooping, borne in the axils of conspicuous sheathing bracts, very small (3--12-flowered); perigynium thin, very small, oblong-ovoid, the beak hyaline-lipped, longer than the very obtuse white scale.--Alpine summits of the White Mts.; Cortland, N. Y., Alcona Co., Mich., and Point de Tour, L. Huron. (Eu.)

[*] 4.--[+] 4. _Debiles._

[++] _Perigynium thin, rarely with more than two prominent nerves._

51. C. arctata, Boott. Slender, erect, 1--2 deg. high; radical leaves much shorter than the culm and very broad (21/2--5''), flat; bracts broad and short, long-sheathing; spikes 3--5, all widely spreading or drooping on filiform stalks, 1--3' long and exceedingly slender; perigynium short (2'' long or less), abruptly and conspicuously stipitate and abruptly contracted into a beak, 3-cornered, prominently nerved, green, mostly spreading, scarcely longer than the very sharp or cuspidate scale.--Woods and copses, N. Eng. to Penn. and Minn.; common.

Var. Faxoni, Bailey. Spikes shorter and usually short-peduncled, erect or nearly so, much more densely flowered, part of them commonly contiguous at the top of the culm, rendering the shorter staminate spike inconspicuous; perigynium usually larger.--Lisbon, N. H. (_Faxon_); Keweenaw Co., Mich. (_Farwell_); extreme northern Minn. (_Bailey_); also in Canada.

52. C. debilis, Michx., var. Rudgei, Bailey. Very slender and diffuse, 1--21/2 deg. high (or rarely reduced to 3--4'!); leaves narrow and lax, longer than the culm; spikes mostly heavier than in the last; perigynium much longer, very gradually narrowed at each end, scarcely angled and not prominently nerved, rusty when ripe, erect, twice longer than the obtuse or acutish scale. (C. debilis, of last ed.)--Copses, N. Eng. to N. Mich., and southward; frequent east and southward.--Var STRICTIOR, Bailey. Usually taller, strict; leaves broader (about 2'' wide) and firmer; spikes stiffer, simply spreading or even erect; perigynium mostly shorter and greener, often little exceeding the scale. White Mts. (_Faxon_).--Var PUBERA, Gray. Perigynium usually more slender, more nerved and minutely pubescent. Center and Lancaster Counties, Penn. (_Porter, Lumsden_), and Bedford Co., Va. (_Curtiss_).