VOL. X, PP. 127-130 NOVEMBER 14, 1896 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



JUNCUS CONFUSUS, A NEW RUSH FROM THE ROCKY 

 MOUNTAIN REGION. 



BY FREDERICK V. COVILLE. 



In a collection of Juncaceae from Idaho, recently received for 

 identification from Mr. A. A. Heller, were two specimens of an 

 undescribed Juncus, which had long been confounded, even by 

 Engelmann himself, with Juncus tenuis congestus Engelm. A de 

 scription of the species, which was already well represented in 

 the National Herbarium by specimens from other collectors, is 

 given herewith. 



Juncus confusus Coville, sp. nov. 



Plant perennial, densely tufted, 15 to 60 cm. high, erect; stem 0.5 to 

 1.5 mm. thick at base, narrower above, striate, nearly terete; leaves all 

 basal, the sheaths with well developed auricles, the blades erect, one- 

 third to one-half or more the height of the stem, flat, usually involute in 

 drying, narrow, 0.5 to 1 mm. in breadth ; inflorescence congested into a 

 turbinate cluster 2 cm. or less in height, much exceeded by its lowest bract ; 

 perianth 3 to 4 mm. long, its parts equal, ovate-lanceolate, acute, with 

 green or at maturity stramineous midrib and a brown stripe on either 

 side; stamens 6, about one-half as long as the perianth, the anthers 

 shorter than their filaments; capsule oblong, equaling the perianth, re- 

 tuse, completely 3-celled ; seed light brown, obovoid or oblong, .45 to .6 

 mm. in length, with oblique white apiculations connected by a usually 

 evident white raphe, finely reticulated in about 16 longitudinal rows, the 

 areolse smooth and 2 to 4 times broader than long. 



Type specimen in the U. S. National Herbarium, collected September 6, 

 1890, in an irrigated meadow, North Park, Colorado, by C. S. Crandall. 



22 Bioi. Soc. WASH., VOL. X, 1896 (127) 



