66. Carex Straminea Willd. Straw Sedge. Dog-Grass

Fig. 933

Carex straminea Willd.; Schk. Riedgr. 49. f. 34. 1801. Carex tenera Dewey, Am. Journ. Sci. 8: 97. 1824.

Culms very slender, roughish above, 1°-2 1/2° long, the top often nodding. Leaves 1" wide or less, long-pointed, shorter than the culm; bracts short or the lower bristle-form and exceeding its spike; spikes 3-8, subglobose or slightly obovoid, 2"-2 1/2" thick, light brown or greenish, separated on the commonly zigzag rachis, or contiguous, usually clavate at base; staminate flowers basal; perigynia widely spreading to ascending, narrowly to broadly ovate, green, 1 1/2"-2" long, 3/4"-l 1/4" wide, strongly several-nerved on the outer face, fewer-nerved or nerveless on the inner, wing-margined, much distended over achene, tapering into the rough 2-toothed beak; scales lanceolate, acute, somewhat shorter and narrower than the perigynia; stigmas 2.

In woods, New Brunswick to British Columbia, Kentucky, Arkansas and California. June-July.

67. Carex Normalis Mackenzie. Larger Straw Sedge

Fig. 934

C. mirabilis Dewey, Am. Journ. Sci. 30: 63, pi. Bb. f. 92.

1836. Not Host, 1809. C. straminea var. mirabilis Tuckerm. Enum. Meth. 18.

1843. C. mirabilis var. perlonga Fernald, Proc. Am. Acad. 37:

473- 1902. C. normalis Mackenzie, Bull. Torr. Club 37: 244. 1910.

Culms erect or sometimes weak and spreading, triangular, roughened above, 2°-3 1/2° high, in dense clumps. Leaves 1 1/4"-3" (averaging 2") wide, much shorter than the culm; lower one or two bracts somewhat developed; spikes 4-12, green or brownish-tinged, blunt, with 10-30 perigynia, subglobose, 3"-4 1/2 long, 2 1/2"-4" wide, usually clavate at base, separate or aggregated into a head 1-2' long and 5" wide or occasionally in a moniliform head; perigynia spreading, thickish, ovate, wing-margined, rounded at base, 1 1/2 '-2" long, 3/4"-1" wide near base, distended over achene, conspicuously nerved On outer, fewer-nerved or nerveless on inner face, tapering into a rough 2-toothed beak about half the length of body; scales ovate, nearly width of but shorter than perigynia.

Woodlands, Quebec to North Carolina, Kansas and Manitoba and in the western mountains.

68. Carex Macloviana D'Urv. Falkland Island Sedge

Fig. 935

C. macloviana D'Urv. Mem. Soc. Linn. Paris 4: 599. 1826.

Strongly caespitose, the culms stout, stiff, 6-15 high, slightly roughened on the angles above. Leaves flat, 1 1/2"-2" wide, usually much shorter than the culm; head i' long, short-oblong or ovoid, of 3-8 densely clustered ovoid-oblong or subglobose gynaecandrous spikes 2"-4" long, 2"-3" wide, each with 10-25 closely appressed perigynia; bracts small or not developed; perigynia ovate, brownish, much flattened and thin, but distended over achene, about 2" long and 1" wide, few-nerved on outer, nerveless on inner surface or nearly so, round-tapering at base, abruptly narrowed into a serrulate obscurely bidentate beak about one-third length of body; scales ovate, obtuse to acute, slightly shorter and narrower than perigynia, brownish-black with strongly developed white hyaline sometimes incurved margins; stigmas 2.

Labrador and Greenland. Also in Lapland and in southern South America. July-August. Closely related to Carex festiva Dewey of the Rocky Mountain region.