This section is from the book "An Illustrated Flora Of The Northern United States, Canada And The British Possessions Vol1", by Nathaniel Lord Britton, Addison Brown. Also available from Amazon: An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States, Canada and the British Possessions. 3 Volume Set..
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.
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.
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.
 
Continue to: