350 SPIDERWORT FAMILY. 



J. t6nuis. Open low grounds and fields, everywhere N. : in tufts, with 

 wiry stems 10' -20' high, a loose panicle shorter than the slender leaves near it, 

 and LiTccn (lowers with lanceolate very acute sepals longer than the green blunt 

 and scarcely pointed pod. y. 



3. dichotomus. Low sandy grounds, takes the place of the preceding S. : 

 has more thread-like leaves, flowers more onesided on the branches of the pan- 

 iele, and greeni.-h sepals only as long as the globular and beak-pointed brown- 

 ish pod. ^f 



3. KNOTTY-LEAVER RUSHES, the. sterna (often branching above) having 2-4 

 thread-ti/i'i/'nl or laterally flattened leaves, irldrk are knotty as if jointed 

 (especially when dry) by internal cross-partitions: panicle terminal. Of 

 these there tin' ninny species, needing close discrimination : the following are 

 only the very commonest, especially the. northern ones. 2/ 



J. acuminatUS. Very wet places : 10'-30' high ; heads .3-10 flowered in 

 a loose spreading panicle, greenish turning straw-colored or brownish; sepals 

 lance-awl-shaped, barely as long as the triangular sharp-pointed pod; stamens 

 3 ; seeds merely acute at both ends. It flowers in early summer. 



J. nodosus. Mostly in sandy or gravelly soil : spreading by slender root- 

 stocks which bear little tubers, 6'- 15' high: heads few, crowded, chestnut- 

 brown, each of 8-20 flowers; sepals lance-linear and awl-pointed, hardly as 

 long as the slender and taper-pointed pod ; seeds abruptly short-pointed at both 

 ends ; stamens ti. 



J. scirpoides. From New York S. : stems rigid, l-3 high from a 

 thick rootstock; heads spherical and dense, 15-80-tlowercd, dull pale green; 

 sepals rigid, awl-shaped and bristly-pointed ; stamens 3 ; pod taper-pointed ; seeds 

 abruptly short-pointed at each end. 



J. Canadensis. Wet places, common, flowering in autumn, very variable, 

 l-3 high; bends numerous, greenish or light brownish, 5 - many-flowered ; 

 sepals lanceolate, the 3 outer shorter ; stamens 3 ; seeds tail-pointed at both 

 ends. 



2. LUZULA, WOOD-RUSH. (Luciola is Italian for the glow-worm.) 11 



L. pilbsa. Shady banks N. : G'-9' high; with lance-linear leaves, and 

 chestnut-brown flowers in an umbel, in spring. 



L. campestris. Dry or moist fields and woods, 6'- 12' high, with linear 

 leaves, and 4-12 spikes or short heads of light brown or straw-colored heads in 

 an umbel, in spring. 



126. COMMELYNACE^3, SPIDERWORT FAMILY. 



Herbs with mucilaginous juice, jointed and mostly branching leal y 

 stems, and perfect tlmvers, having a perianth of usually 3 green and 

 persistent sepals, and three ephemeral petals (these commonly melt 

 into jelly the night after expan-ion) ; 6 stamens, some of them often 

 imperfect, and a free 2-3-celled ovary; style and stigma one. Pod 

 2 - 3-celled, few-seeded. Not aquatic, the greater part tropical. 



1. OOMMEl.VXA. Flowers blue, irregular. Sepals unequal, 2 of them sometimes 



united by their contiguous margins. Two of the petnl- rounded and on slen- 

 der claw'*, the odd one smaller or abortive. Stamens uneijiial: three of them 

 fertile, one of these bent inwards: three smaller and with cro haped im- 

 prrfi-et anthers: filamenN naked. I.eave> abruptly contracted and sheathing 

 at b:i-e. the uppermost forming a -pathe for tin- (lowers. 



2. TRADESCANTlA. Flowers regular. 1'etals all alike, ovate, sessile. The 



(J stamens all with similar and good anthers, on bearded filaments. 



1. COMMEI/^NA, DAY-FLOWER. (There were three Commelyns, 

 Dutch botanists, two of them were authors, the other published nothing. In 

 naming this genus for them, Liniueus is understood to have designated the 



