[++][++] Spike one or rarely a rudiment of a second; plant diœcious.
83. C. pícta, Steudel. Rather weak, 1° high or less; leaves flat and firm, persisting through the winter, at least twice longer than the culm; a sheathing purple scale at the base of the spike; staminate spike about 1´ long, clavate in anthesis, the purple scales ending in a very short and blunt whitish tip; pistillate spike narrower and mostly longer, the scales more abruptly contracted into a colored cusp and at length deciduous; perigynium obovate, much contracted below into a stipe-like base, very strongly nerved, entirely pointless, hairy above, covered by the scale. (C. Boottiana, Benth.)—In a wooded ravine with Hepatica and Epigæa, near Bloomington, Ind. (Dudley); also Ala. and La.
[*] 7. Sphæridióphoræ.—[+] 1. Scirpìnæ.
84. C. scirpoídea, Michx. Strict, the pistillate plant mostly stiff, 6–18´ high; leaves flat, shorter than the culm; spike 1´ long or less, densely cylindrical, very rarely with a rudimentary second spike at its base; perigynium ovate, short-pointed, very hairy, about the length of the ciliate purple scale.—Mountains of N. New Eng.; Drummond's Island, L. Huron. (Norway.)
[*] 7.—[+] 2. Montànæ.
[++] Some or all of the culms longer than the leaves (or in the type of n. 85 frequently shorter).
[=] Staminate spike minute, wholly or partially concealed in the head; leaves always very narrow; radical spikes often present.
85. C. defléxa, Hornem. Diffuse and low, tufted; culms 1–6´ high, setaceous, more or less curved or spreading, little exceeding or shorter than the leaves; staminate spike exceedingly minute and nearly always entirely invisible in the head; pistillate spikes 2–3, 2–5-flowered, green, or green and brown, all aggregated into a head, the lowest one always more or less short-peduncled and subtended by a leafy bract ½´ long or less; radical spikes few; perigynium very small and much contracted below, sparsely hairy or nearly smooth, the beak flat and very short, mostly longer than the acutish scale. (C. Novæ-Angliæ, last ed., mostly.)—High mountains of N. H. and Vt.
Var. Dèanei, Bailey. Taller and lax, the culms 6–12´ high and some or all prominently longer than the longer and loose leaves; staminate spike much larger (2–3´´ long), erect or oblique, sessile; pistillate spikes larger (4–8-flowered), less aggregated or the lowest usually separated, though rarely more than ¼´ apart; radical spikes usually numerous; bract mostly longer.—Swales or dryish places, high or subalpine regions, Mt. Desert, Maine (Rand); Essex, Mass.; N. H., Vt., and N. Y.; scarce. In aspect like n. 86.
Var. mèdia, Bailey. Rather stiff, 4–12´ high, in dense tufts; most of the spikes equalling or exceeding the leaves, the staminate prominent, erect (3–5´´ long), sessile or very short-peduncled; pistillate spikes 2–3, all scattered, the uppermost at or near the base of the staminate spike, the lowest usually very prominently peduncled and subtended by a conspicuous bract which surpasses the culm, all rather compactly 3–8-flowered, green, or brown and green; radical spikes several; perigynium larger, much like that of short-beaked forms of n. 90.—Keweenaw Co., Mich. (Farwell); also far westward.