1901] Fernald, — New Stations for Juncus subtilis 229 
Maine. Mr. Smith's plant has been referred to Juncus subtilis, E. 
Meyer, although by recent authors that obscure species has been 
treated merely as an aquatic variety of 7. pelocarpus. 
According to Meyer, his plant, collected by Bosc “in uliginosis et 
rivulis Canadae," was the same as that referred by Michaux to 
Lamarck’s Juncus fluitans. The brief description given by Meyer, 
* Caule radicante foliisque capillaceis, floribus subbinis, perianthii 
laciniis obtusis, interioribus longioribus, (staminibus tribus ?),” 
agrees with the capillary plant found at various points in northern 
Maine, except that in the Fort Kent material there are usually 6 
(rarely 4) stamens. Engelmann's description of 7. pelocarpus, var. 
subtilis, drawn from Michaux's J. /fuifans (collected at Chicoutimi, 
Quebec), *caule reptante vel fluitante radicante folioso: foliis 
brevibus setaceis ex axillis proliferis; floribus subbinis 3-andris," 
agrees with the Maine plant quite as well as does Meyer's character- 
ization. 
Juncus subtilis has been very little known since its original descrip- 
tion by Michaux (as /. fluitans) and by Meyer. In American her- 
baria it has been known only recently, from Mr. Smith's Brassua 
Lake material, in most of which the stamens are badly shrivelled or 
wanting. Owing to this insufficient knowledge of the flower the 
plant has long been treated as a floating state of 7. pelocarpus. When 
Dr. Engelmann first suggested this disposition of the delicate plant 
it was with hesitation, for the species was then unknown to American 
botanists and his only acquaintance with it was from Laharpe's notes 
on the Michaux material. 
At Mattawamkeag Lake and at Fort Kent where Juncus pelocarpus 
is abundant both on the shores and in shallow water no tendency to 
intergrade with 7. subtilis has been noted. J. pelocarpus in water, as 
well as on shores, is an erect plant with definite caudex, with usually 
two or three ascending long leaves, and with a well developed 
dichotomous panicle. The flowers are often modified into tufts of 
small leaves, but this proliferous tendency is strictly confined to the 
inflorescence. In perfect flowers the sepals (or at least the alternate 
ones) are acuminate, and the anthers are distinctly longer than the 
filaments. /. subtilis, on the other hand, is a capillary repent plant, 
in water often becoming 2 dm. long. The roots are slender and 
fibrous but no definite caudex is apparent. The setaceous basal 
leaves are very numerous and elongated, while the axils of most of 
