26. Section Porocystis Dumort.

Plants monoecious, with rhizomes absent or poorly developed, forming dense clumps. Vegetative stems present, short to elongate, leafy. Flowering stems erect to arched or drooping, strongly trigonous, somewhat hairy or less commonly glabrous or nearly so, roughened on the angles, reddish purple at the base (sometimes faintly so in C. bushii). Leaves basal and mostly on the lower half of the stems, the lowermost reduced to nearly bladeless sheaths. Leaf blades hairy or less commonly glabrous or nearly so. Leaf sheaths concave or less commonly truncate at the tip, sparsely to densely hairy, the lowermost sheath bases reddish purple. Spikes 2–5 (often 3) per stem, the lowermost bracts leaflike or nearly hairlike, longer than the inflorescence, lacking a sheath or nearly so, the uppermost bract short and hairlike. Terminal spike pistillate toward the tip and staminate in the basal 1/2, sessile or nearly so. Lateral spikes 2–4, densely to loosely spaced near the tip of the axis, sessile to short-stalked, similar to the terminal spike, but all pistillate. Perigynia beakless (very short-beaked in C. caroliniana), glabrous or hairy. Styles withering during fruit development, jointed to the main body of the fruit, which is very short-beaked at maturity. Stigmas 3. Fruits elliptic to obovate in outline, sharply trigonous with concave sides, yellowish brown to dark brown. About 10 species, U.S., Canada, South America, Europe, Asia.