Carex townsendii Mack.

Carex townsendii Mackenzie, sp. nov
Cespitose, the rootstocks short, blackish, fibrillose, the culms 2-3.5 dm. high, stiff, sharply
triangular, smooth or slightly roughened beneath heed, exceeding leaves, brownish and somewhat Gbrillose at base, the dricd-up leaves of the previous yea* inconspii uous, tin lower short-bladed ; leaves S or 6 to ,i culm, on lower third, but not bunched, tinblades mostly i 2 dm. long, alxjut 2 S mm. with-, canalii 0, still, rough' mil above, I I
recurved spreading, thi heath tight, hyaline and yellowi ii gri trally, convex
and slightly thickened at mouth, very little prolonged i" yond basi ol blade, tinligule wirier than 1' upper aggregated, tinlowei approximate, forming ;i head .' i em.
long, the spikes pistillate or the u pperm o s t gynaecani borbtcular,
mm. long, 5 6 mm. wide, with I -'" at length preading perigynia
and iie Iowa brad the uppei one icale-like;
d i ■.■■" thirds Ii ngth "I bodie i "I • brown with prominently l-nerved gr and broad b
margins, not sharply keeled ami thi midvein not prominent I Imilar, but with sharper midvein; perigynia plano-convex, ovate, 3.25 mm. long, 1.75 mm. wide, thickish, membranaceous but firm, sharp-edged to base, serrulate at base of beak, substipitate, spongy and round-truncate at base, lightly several-nerved dorsally, nerveless or nearly so ventrally, abruptly contracted into a serrulate beak about 1 mm. long, obliquely cut dorsally, both dorsal suture and false ventral suture conspicuous, sharply bidentate, the teeth subulatetriangular, slender, reddish-brown; achenes lenticular, ovate, yellowish-brown, short-stipitate, apiculate, 1.75 mm. long, 1.5 mm. wide, in upper part of perigynium-bodies; style slender, jointed with achene, deciduous; stigmas two, slender, yellowish-brown, long.
Type collected five miles southeast of Colonia Garcia, Chihuahua, Mexico, at 2250 meters altitude (Townsend 6" Barber 157, July 21, 1899).
Distribution: Wet soil. Sierra Madre Mountains, Chihuahua. (Specimens examined from Chihuahua.)