215. Carex Rhomalea (Fernald) Mackenzie. Moosehead Lake Sedge

Fig. 1082

C. miiiaris var. major Bailey, Mem. Torr. Club i: 36.

1889. C. saxatilis var. rhomalea Fernald, Rhodora 3: 50. 1901. C. rhomalea Mackenzie, Bull. Torr. Club 37: 246. 1910.

Culms slender, sharply triangular and roughened above, reddened and but little if at all filamentose at base, 6'-2° tall; rootstocks creeping. Leaves 1/2"-1 1/4" wide, strongly involute, usually shorter than the culm, obscurely nodulose, roughened towards apex; lowest bract narrower, shorter than or exceeding culm, erect or spreading; staminate spikes 1-3, short-stalked; pistillate spikes 1-3, ascending, suborbicular to oblong, 4"-9" long, 2V-3" wide, sessile or the lower short-stalked; perigynia 1 1/2" long, oblong-ovoid, yellowish-green or dark-tinged, few-nerved, scarcely inflated, ascending, contracted into a short emarginate beak; scales ovate, obtuse, acute or acuminate, light-brown to strongly blackish-tinged, shorter than perigynia; stigmas usually 2.

On lake and river shores, central Maine to Newfoundland. Summer. Has been confused with C. saxatilis L, and with C. rotundata Wahl.

216. Carex Saxatilis L. Russet Sedge

Fig. 1083

Carex saxatilis L. Sp. PI. 976. 1753.

Carex pulla Gooden. Trans. Linn. Soc. 3: 78. 1797.

Glabrous, culms not filamentose at base, strongly stoloniferous, erect, slender, 3'-2° tall. Leaves flat, 1"-2 1/2" broad, obscurely nodulose, the upper not overtopping the culm; bracts short; staminate spike usually solitary, short-stalked; pistillate spikes 1-4, all stalked or the upper nearly or quite sessile, suborbicular to oblong-cylindric, 4"-12" long, 3"-41/2" wide, densely 15-50-flowered; perigynia dark purple-brown or rarely straw-colored, ascending, ovoid, i¥'-2" long, scarcely inflated, nerveless or very faintly few-nerved,' tipped with a short emarginate beak; scales ovate, subacute, dark brown, shorter than or as long as the perigynia; stigmas usually 2, rarely 3.

Greenland and Labrador to Alaska. Also in arctic Europe and Asia. Summer.

Carex ambusta Boott, admitted into our first edition, is a far northwestern species not definitely known within our range.

217. Carex Mainensis Porter. Maine Sedge

Fig. 1084

Carex pulla A. Gray, Man. Ed. 5, 602. 1867. Not Gooden. 1797.

Carex miiiaris var. aurea Bailey, Mem. Torr. Club 1: 2,7. 1889. Not C. aurea Nutt. 1818.

Carex mainensis Porter; Britton, Manual 193. 1901.

Culms slender, smooth below inflorescence, little filamentose at base, 1 1/2°-3° tall, the plant stoloniferous. Leaves 3/4"-1 1/2i" wide, flat, shorter than the culm, somewhat nodulose and scabrous on the margins, the lower bracts narrower, about equalling the culm; staminate spikes 1-4, slender-stalked; pistillate spikes 1-3, erect, cylindric, 6"-15" long, 3"-4" wide, sessile or the lower short-stalked; perigynia about 2" long, oblong-ovoid, yellowish-green, few-nerved, slightly inflated, contracted into a rather conspicuous 2-toothed beak; scales lanceolate, acute or acuminate, yellowish or brown-margined, slightly shorter than the perigynia; stigmas 2 or 3.

On lake and river shores, central Maine to Labrador. Possibly a hybrid between C. miiiaris and C. vesicaria. Illustrated as Carex Raeana in first edition. Summer.