on the Genus Juncus of Linneus. 333 
Leaves linear-lanceolate, acuminate, eight-nerved, hairy at the 
margin; stem-leaves smaller, shorter. Panicle terminal, cymose, |. 
repeatedly compound, often divaricate. Flowers small, about 
three together, fasciculate. Bractes linear, hairy, acute. Calyx- 
leafletsequal,acuminate, somewhat longer than the capsule. Cap- 
sule ovate, mucronate, three-seeded. Seeds elliptical; coruncula 
sitting close to the seed, and of the same shape. Vid. Tan. IX. 
fig. 3. 
Linnzus comprehended this, with some other real species, in 
his Juncus pilosus ; but that itis most distinct from every other, no 
botanist now doubts. It is the largest of the genus, whence the 
name maximus: but though this be the case, it has a smaller seed. 
vessel, in proportion, than any of the rest. It differs from L. pi- 
losa and Forsteri in the circumstance of the flowers growing in. 
clusters, and the repeatedly compound panicle; and from the 
campestris, in the absence of the spiked heads. It flowers later 
than the others by a month. The herbalists Bauhin, Parkinson, 
and Morison have two varieties of it, a larger and a smaller; 
but whether this has arisen merely from the different size of the 
plant, or whether there is really a distinction, as I confess I have 
sometimes suspected, I cannot at present determine. Parkinson’s 
1185. 5. is Luzula albida. His Gramen nemorum hirsutum majus 
alterum precor tuberosa radice, 1184. 2. is the large variety ; 1185. 3. 
is the smaller one, copied from C. Bauhin. Morison's Gramen 
— hirsutum latifolium majus juncea panicula, sect. viii. £. 9. f. 2. is the | 
larger; and Gramen hirsutum latifolium minus the smaller, and 
copied also from C. Bauhin. Whether any old botanist besides 
Bauhin was acquainted with it, is doubtful. Flor. Dan. 441. re- 
presents the small variety. 
9x2 4. LUZULA 
