69. Carex Festucacea Schkuhr. Fescue Sedge

Fig. 936

Carex festucacea Schkuhr; Willd. Sp. PI. 4: 242. 1805. Carex straminea var. brevior Dewey, Am. Journ. Sci. 11: 158. 1826. C. straminea var. festucacea Tuck. En. Meth. 18. 1843.

Culms slender or rather stout, smooth or roughened beneath head, stiff, strictly erect, 10 - 4° tall. Leaves rather stiff, erect, 1"-2" wide, shorter than the culm; sheaths with a conspicuous pale band and membranous auricle; spikes 3-10, green-brown or light-brown, oblong or nearly globular, clustered at the summit but not at all confluent, or the lower separate, 2"-4 1/2" in diameter, 3 1/2"-7 1/2" long, rounded or clavate at base; bracts short or wanting; perigynia varying from orbicular to ovate, broadly wing-margined, 1 1/4"-1 3/4" in diameter, 2"-2 3/4" long, thickish, somewhat spreading or ascending, strongly nerved on outer face, faintly on inner face, the roughish beak about one-third the length of the body; scales lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, acute or obtusish, rather shorter and narrower than the perigynia; stigmas 2.

In dry or moist soil, New Brunswick to British Columbia, south to Florida and Arkansas. May-July.

69 Carex Festucacea Schkuhr Fescue Sedge 936

70. Carex Bicknellii Britton. Bicknell's Sedge

Fig. 937

Carex straminea var. Crawei Boott, 111. 121. pl. 388.

1862. Not C. Crazcei Dewey, 1846. Carex Bicknellii Britton; Brit. & Br. 111. Fl. 1: 360. 1896.

Culms loosely tufted, 2°-4° high, erect or the top inclined, roughish above, much longer than the leaves. Leaves 4'-12' long, 1 1/4"-2 1/4" wide towards base; bracts usually very short; spikes 3-7, ovoid, subgiobose, or somewhat obovoid, 4"-9," long, 3"-6" broad, approximate, or the lower separated, brownish or greenish or straw-colored, staminate at the base, the head stiff, erect; perigynia spreading-ascend-ing, very broadly ovate or suborbicular, thin, very prominently (about 16) nerved on both faces, 2 3/4"-3 3/4 ' long, nearly 1 1/2"-2" wide, the membranous wing very broad, the rough 2-toothed beak one-fourth to one-half as long as the body; scales lance-ovate, obtuse or acute, straw-colored or brownish with hyaline margins, shorter and much narrower than perigynia; stigmas 2.

In dry soil. Maine to Manitoba, south to New Jersey, Arkansas and Nebraska. June-July.

70 Carex Bicknellii Britton Bicknell s Sedge 937

71. Carex Hormathodes Fernald. Marsh Straw Sedge

Fig. 938

C. straminea var. invisa W. Boott, Coult. Bot. Gaz. q: 86.

1884. C. tenera var. Richii Fernald, Proc. Am. Acad. 27: 475.

1902. C. hormathodes Fernald, Rhodora 8: 165. 1906.

Culms very slender, erect or the summit nodding, slightly angled and often strongly roughened above, 1°-3° high. Leaves shorter than the culm, usually less than 1" wide, tapering to a very long tip; bracts, when present, very narrow and bristle-foral; spikes 3-9, ovoid, obtuse or short-pointed, densely many-flowered, separated or the upper contiguous, forming a slender moniliform head, greenish brown or brown at maturity, 3 1/2-8" long, staminate and commonly much contracted at the base; perigynia narrowly to broadly ovate, ascending, or with somewhat spreading tips, 2" to nearly 3" long, 1"- 11/2" wide, strongly about 10-nerved on both faces, wing-margined, the rough beak about half as long as the body; scales lanceolate, long-acuminate or aristate, nearly as long as the perigynia, but much narrower; stigmas 2.

In wet soil, chiefly near coast, Gulf of St. Lawrence to Virginia, locally inland to Ontario and recorded from Iowa; also on Pacific coast. May-June. Illustrated in our first edition as C. tenera Dewey.

71 Carex Hormathodes Fernald Marsh Straw Sedge 938