41. C. crinìta, Lam. Robust and mostly stout, 2–4° high; culm sharp and rough or sometimes smooth; leaves about 3´´ broad, flat, more or less rough on the nerves and margins; spikes 3–6, somewhat scattered, all variously peduncled, mostly secund, curved and drooping (or in small forms rarely nearly erect), 1–4´ long, narrowly and evenly cylindric, compact or attenuate below, often staminate at top; perigynium ovate, thin and puncticulate, obscurely nerved, the minute point entire; scale greenish-brown and rough-awned, 2–3 times as long as the perigynium. (C. gynandra, Schwein.)—Swales; common.—Var. mìnor, Boott. Much smaller in all its parts, 10–18´ high; leaves narrow; spikes 3–4, 1½´ long or less, less drooping; scales less prominent.—Maine to N. Y.; scarce. Somewhat resembles n. 39.
C. crinìta × tórta, Bailey. More slender than C. crinita, the leaves narrower; spikes nearly as slender as those of C. torta; scales blunt or simply acute and little longer than the perigynium, or sometimes very short-awned.—Moist meadows near the Glen House, White Mts. (Brainerd). Might be mistaken for drooping spiked forms of n. 34.
[++] Spikes narrowly cylindrical.
42. C. littoràlis, Schwein. Somewhat slender but erect, 1–2° high; leaves narrow and rather stiff, flat, glaucous, shorter than the sharp and nearly smooth culm; staminate spikes 1–3, dark purple, 1½´ long or less, the scales obtuse; pistillate spikes 2–4, somewhat approximate, on thread-like peduncles, 1–2´ long, usually staminate at top; perigynium lance-oval, faintly nerved, the minute beak entire, mostly longer than the obtuse purple scale; bracts prominently purple-auricled. (C. Barrattii, Schwein. & Torr.)—Marshes near the coast, N. J. and southward; rare.
[++][++] Spikes globular or oblong.
[=] Scales very sharp, prominently longer than the perigynium.
43. C. Magellánica, Lam. Slender but erect, 8–18´ high; leaves flat and lax, somewhat shorter than the culm; lowest bract as wide as the leaves or nearly so and exceeding the culm; spikes 2–3, approximate, all slenderly stalked and drooping; perigynium orbicular or broad-ovate, nerved in the centre, ½–{2/3} the length of the scale. (C. irrigua, Smith.)—Deep swamps, throughout, north of Penn.; local. (Eu.)
[=][=] Scales blunt, little exceeding the perigynium.
44. C. rariflòra, Smith. Very small but stiff, 4–10´ high, somewhat stoloniferous; culm obtuse and very smooth; leaves very narrow, becoming involute, shorter than the culm; spikes 1–2, only 3–10-flowered, drooping, borne in the axil of a minute awl-like and purple-auricled bract; perigynium ovate, nearly pointless, obscurely nerved, mostly a little shorter than the enveloping scale.—Mt. Katahdin, Maine (Goodale). (Eu.)