202 Mr. J. E. Broneno’s Observations | 
plants of various genera, e. g. Scirpi, Scheni, Cyperi, Triglochines, 
Butomus, Eriophora, and others. Nevertheless, with all this con- - 
fusion, they divided the real Junci, which are included in the | 
first subdivision of the genus in the Species Plantarum, into two 
families, the hard and the soft; the former being all called acu- 
tus, and the latter levis*. The Gramina hirsuta, which are those 
Junci described as plane-leaved by Linnzus, were kept entirely 
distinct, and were arranged among the Grasses. 
Our systematic countryman Ray gives this description, * de 
Junco et Gramine Junceo T:7—* Juncus caulibus teretibus, fan- 
gosis, panicula vel in summo caule existente, vel ex ejus latere 
inferius exeunte, et multis seminibus majusculis compositá à re- 
liquis graminifoliis distinguitur. Gramina juncea à juncis distin- 
guuntur caulibus foliosis articulatis. Folia etiam in his non sem- 
per teretia sunt, sed in nonnullis speciebus compressa, in omni- 
bus tamen fungosa." The latter part of this description alludes 
to such as have jointed leaves: but Ray confesses that he has 
admitted under his definition, in conformity to the opinion of 
other botanists, plants which he did not know how to dispose of 
otherwise. He has placed the Gramina hirsuta in a distinct divi- 
sion. In the second edition of his Synopsis, the Gramina juncea 
are said to differ merely in their having a leafy stem. -Ray’s de- 
finition, it must be confessed, very much lessened the number of 
plants which were at first admitted, though it still embraced the 
Eriophora, Triglochines, and some of the Scheni and Scirpi. No 
improvement of the character appears, as might be expected, in 
the Methodus Graminum, published afterwards; but on the con- 
trary, it is more loosely defined. Dillenius, in his edition of 
the Synopsis, introduced considerable correction both in the 
racter of the genus and the synonyms, and the true Junc 
* Bauh. Pin., p. Il. + Historia Plantarum, p. 1302. 
thus 
