Star Sedge

Carex ormantha (Fernald) Mackenzie, Erythea 8: 35. 1922
Carex echinata var. ormantha Fernald, Proc. Am. Acad. 37: 483. excluding Connecticut and Rhode
Island specimens, pi. 4. f. 89. Mr 1902. (Type from California.) Carex stellulata var. ormantha Fernald. Rhodora 4: 222. N 1902. (Based technically on C. echinata
var. ormantha Fernald).
Densely cespitose, the rootstocks very short, the culms 1.5-4 dm. high, slender but rather stiff, obtusely triangular below, sharply triangular above, smooth, exceeding leaves, lightbrownish at base, the dried-up leaves of the previous year not conspicuous, the lower bladeless; leaves with well-developed blades 3-5 to a fertile culm, on lower fourth, but not bunched, the blades flat or canaliculate, light-green or yellowish-green, not stiff, mostly 0.5-2 dm. long, 1.5-2 mm. wide, the sheaths tight, hyaline ventrally, thin and concave at mouth, the ligule very short; spikes 3 or 4, widely separated, forming a head 2-6 cm. long, the terminal gynaecandrous, conspicuously long-clavate and staminate at base, the lateral pistillate or obscurely gynaecandrous, 3-5 mm. long, 6-8 mm. wide, with 2-12 widely radiating or even reflexed perigynia; lowest bract more or less setaceous-prolonged, the others scale-like; scales ovate, obtuse, chestnut-brown with lighter 3-nerved center and bright white-hyaline margins and apex, not sharply keeled, the midvein not prominent to apex, as wide as and nearly length of bodies of perigynia; perigynia plano-convex, lanceolate, 3.5-4 mm. long, 1.5 mm. wide, the margins of the body scarcely raised, not serrulate except at base of beak, yellowish-green or soon brownish-yellow, thick, subcoriaceous, many-nerved dorsally, many-striate ventrallv, rounded and spongy at base, tapering into a serrulate beak more than half length of body, the dorsal suture with chestnut-brown margins, the ventral face chestnut-brown-tingcd, bidentate. the teeth triangular, short, erect, chestnut-brown; achenes lenticular, ovate, yellowish, substipitate, 1.75 mm. long. 1 mm. wide, short-apiculate; style slender, jointed with achene, at length deciduous; stigmas two, slender, short, chestnut-brown.
Type locality: Strawberry Creek, El Dorado County, California (Brainerd 160).
Distribution: Mountains, from Washington to southern California, chiefly in the Sierra Nevada. (Specimens examined showing range as given.)

Carex cephalantha (L. H. Bailey) Bicknell, Bull. Torrey Club 35:493. 1908.
Carex echinata var. cephalantha L. H. Bailey. Mem. Torrey Club 1: 58. 1889. (Type from eastern
Pennsylvania.) Carex steri'lis var. cephalantha L. H. Bailey, Bull. Torrey Club 20: 424. 1893. (Based on C.
echinata var. cephalantha L. H. Bailey.) Carex sterilis var. aequidistans Peck; Howe. Ann. Rep. N. Y. State Mus. 48: 137. 1897. (Type from
Oneida and Essex counties. New York.) . Carex cephalantha Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 14: 1906. 1901. (In index; not intended as a publication
—but see Tdrreya 5: 44.) Carex echinata var. ormantha Fernald, Proc. Am. Acad. 37: 483, as to Connecticut and Rhode Island
specimens. 1902. Carex echinata var. excelsior Fernald, Proc. Am. Acad. 37: 483, as to plant described. 1902. Carex stellulata var. cephalantha Fernald, Rhodora 4: 222. 1902. (Based on C. echinata var. cephalantha L. H. Bailey). "Carex stellulata var. excelsior L. H. Bailey" Fernald. Rhodora 4: 222. as to plant described. 1902. Carex stellulata var. ormantha Fernald, Rhodora 4: 222, as to plant. 1902. Carex Leersii var. cephalantha J. K. Henry. Fl. So. Brit. Columb. 60. 1915; Burnham, Torreya
19: 131. 1919. (Based on C. echinata'var. cephalantha L. H. Bailey.) Carex muricata var. cephalantha Wiegand & Fames. Mem. Cornell Exp. Sta. 92: 120. 1926. (Based
on C. echinata var. cephalantha L. H. Bailey.)
Very densely cespitose, the rootstock not at all prolonged, the culms slender but stiff, sharply triangular, more or less roughened beneath head, 2.5-7.5 dm. high, aphyllopodic, light-brown at base and conspicuously clothed with the dried-up leaves of the previous year, the lower short-bladed or bladeless; leaves 3 or 4 to a fertile culm, on lower third, but not bunched, the blades stiff, light-green, usually 1-2 dm. long, 1.5-2.5 mm. wide, flat or somewhat canaliculate, the sheaths tight, hyaline and red-dotted ventrally, concave at mouth, the ligule as long as wide; spikes 3-7, more or less strongly separate, forming a head 2.5-5 cm. long, the lateral spikes subglobose or short-oblong, 4-10 mm. long, 5-7 mm. wide, gynaecandrous with few staminate flowers and 5-25 at first appressed and finally widely spreading or even reflexed perigynia, the terminal spike similar but longer, clavate and strongly staminate at base; lower 1 or 2 bracts mostly setaceous and exceeding spikes, the others scale-like; scales ovate, acute or somew'hat cuspidate, narrower than and about length of bodies of perigynia, yellowish-brown or chestnut-brown-tinged with 3-nerved green center and midvein sharply keeled and prominent to apex, the margins hyaline; perigynia plano-convex or somewhat concavo-convex, ovate, 3.5-4 mm. long, 1.5-2 mm. wide, greenish-yellow or brownish, thick, subcoriaceous, round-truncate and spongy at base, strongly many-nerved dorsally and finely many-nerved ventrally at least at base, sharp-edged to base, strongly serrulate above, tapering or more or less abruptly narrowed into a beak half length of the body, the beak prominently reddish-brown-tinged ventrally and with margins of the dorsal suture narrowly hyaline, strongly bidentate, the subulate teeth erect; achenes lenticular, obovate, widest towards top, about 1.5 mm. long and as wide, golden-yellow, substipitate, apiculate; style straight, slightly enlarged below, jointed with achene, withering and at length deciduous; stigmas two, slender, light-reddish-brown, short.
Type locality (of C. echinata var. cephalantha L. H. Bailey, on which C. cephalantha is based) ; "E. Pennsylvania, Porter; Ashland, Mass., Morong; Tompkins Co., N. Y., Dudley; Jefferson Co., N. Y., Craive; and Keweenaw Co., Michigan, Farwell."
Distribution: Acid soils, wet sphagnum, in swampy meadows or open woods, Newfoundland to Wisconsin, and southward to Maryland; on the Pacific coast from Vancouver to Washington. (Specimens examined from Newfoundland, Miquelon, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick. Nova Scotia, Quebec, Maine. New Hampshire, Vermont. Rhode Island. Connecticut. New York. New Jersey. Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ontario, Wisconsin. Vancouver. Washington.)

Carex josselynii (Fernald) Mackenzie; Pease, Proe. Bost. Soc
Nat, Hist. 37: 188. 1924.
Carex interior var. Josselynii Fernald, Rhodora 8: 115. 1906. (Type from Fort Kent, Maine.) Carex scirpoides var. Josselynii Fernald. Rhodora 10: 4S. 1908. (Based on C. interior var. Josselynii Fernald.)
Densely cespitose, the culms slender but rather stiff, 2-3.5 dm. high, sharply triangular, roughened beneath head, about equaling leaves, aphyllopodic, brownish-tinged at base and clothed with the dried-up leaves of the previous year, the lower bladeless; leaves with welldeveloped blades 2-4 to a culm, the blades flat, thin, light-green, usually 1-2 dm. long, 1.5 mm. wide, the sheaths tight, hyaline ventrally, thin, but somewhat thickened at mouth, shortprolonged beyond base of blade and continuous with ligule; spikes 3 or 4, approximate, forming a head 1.5-3 cm. long, rounded at apex, the lower gynaecandrous or pistillate, short-oblong or oblong, 4-10 mm. long, 4-5 mm. wide, rounded or short-clavate at base, with 10-20 appressedascending or in age ascending-spreading perigynia, the uppermost longer, gynaecandrous with conspicuous clavate base; bracts scale-like or lowest setaceous, short; scales broadly ovate, obtuse, narrower than and half length of bodies of perigynia, yellowish-brown or chestnuttinged with greenish center and conspicuous hyaline margins, not sharply keeled, the midvein becoming obsolete above; perigynia plano-convex, linear-oval, thick, 2.5-3.25 mm. long, scarcely 1 mm. wide, membranaceous but firm, widest near middle of body, green or in age stramineous, sharp-edged to base, the body narrowly oval, not serrulate, strongly nerved on both faces, substipitate, tapering and spongy at base, tapering at apex into a sparingly but sharply serrulate beak one fourth length of body, very shallowly bidentate, chestnut-browntipped, obliquely cut dorsally, slightly white-hyaline at tip, the ventral false suture obsolete, the dorsal suture conspicuous; achenes lenticular, closely enveloped, short-stipitate, lightbrownish, oblong, 1.75 mm. long, 0.75 mm. wide, truncately subapiculate; style slender, short, jointed with achene, at length deciduous, slightly enlarged at base; stigmas two, slender, reddish-brown, short.
Type locality (of C. interior var. Josselynii Fernald. on which C. Josselynii is based): Fort Kent, Maine (Fernald).
Distribution: Known only from the vicinity of the type locality.

Carex laricina Mackenzie, sp. nov
Very densely cespitose, the rootstock not at all prolonged, the culms slender but stiff, sharply triangular, more or less roughened beneath head, light-brown at base and conspicuously clothed with the dried-up leaves of the previous year, the lower short-bladed or bladeless, loose; leaves with well-developed blades 6-9 to a fertile culm, on lower third, the blades light-green, slender, usually 1-2 dm. long, 1.5 mm. wide, strongly canaliculate, the sheaths tight, hyaline ventrally, concave and scarcely thickened at mouth, the ligule about as long as wide; spikes 3-5, more or less strongly separate, forming a head 2.5-4.5 cm. long, the lateral spikes subglobose to short-oblong, 4-8 mm. long, 5-7 mm. wide, gynaecandrous, with few staminate flowers and 8-20 at first appressed but soon widely spreading perigynia, the terminal spike similar, but longer, clavate and strongly staminate at base, sometimes entirely staminate; bracts mostly scale-like, the lowest short-setaceous; staminate scales obovate, obtuse or obtusish, yellowish-brown-tinged with broad hyaline margins, the sharp green midvein not extending to apex; pistillate scales ovate, obtusish to acute, narrower and rather shorter than bodies of perigynia, yellowish-brown-tinged, the hyaline margin narrow, the center 3-nerved, green, the midvein sharp, extending to apex or nearly so; perigynia plano-convex, ovate, 2.753.5 mm. long, 1.75 mm. wide, yellowish-green, thick, subcoriaceous, round-truncate and spongy at base, strongly many-nerved dorsally and lightly many-nerved on lower half ventrally, sharp-edged to base, the margins slightly raised, sharply serrulate above, tapering into a beak alxjut one third length of body, the beak obliquely cut dorsally and reddish-tinged ventrally, shallowly bidentate, with short triangular stiff teeth; achenes lenticular, broadly ovate to rcniform-orbieular, widest below middle, about 1.3 mm. long and as wide, short-stipitate, apiculate, golden-yellow, style slender, slightly enlarge! below, jointed with achene, withering and at length deciduous; stigmas two, light-reddish-brown, slender, rather short.
i.'.. mi r v : f ml II ll|. Kosciusko County, Indiana (Dram 10P27). DnmUBI now: Sphagnum swamps, Ontario and northwestern Pennsylvania to Wisconsin, and southward to Indiana. (Specimens examined from ( mtario, Pennsylvania (Presque Isle), Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana j