7. Juncus Roemerianus Scheele. Fig. 313. 



Tufted perennial; culms with bracts 5-15 dm. long, 2-4 mm. thick, erect, sim- 

 ple, essentially terete; sheaths chestnut-color, with long wiry terete pungent erect 

 blades; panicle much-branched and compound, 7-12 cm. long, appearing as if 

 emerging from the sides of the culm (actually terminal, far-overtopped by the 

 terete pungent bract which is about 3 times as long as the inflorescence and which 

 appears as a continuation of the culm), the ultimate branchiets bearing glom- 

 erules of 2 to 5 flowers, each glomerule subtended by as many bracteoles as it has 

 flowers or an occasional flower subtended by one additional bracteole; perianth 

 2.8-3.5 mm. long, brown, the apexes of the parts often slightly spreading; stamens 

 6, the anthers about 5 times as long as the filaments; capsule obovoid to elliptic- 

 obovoid, apiculate, brown, shining, about equaling or shorter than the perianth. 



Infrequent in brackish-water ditches and coastal marshes, s.e. Tex., spring; 

 Coastal States, Md. to Tex. 



8. Juncus Cooperi Engelm. 



Stems in large tufts from stout, much-branched rootstocks, 4-8 dm. tall, stout, 

 pungent, terete, finely striate; leaves from basal sheaths with terete, stout, pungent 

 blades, short or nearly as long as the stems; involucral bract 5-10 cm. long, stout, 

 pungent; panicle compound, with branches very unequal in length, the longer ones 

 to 10 cm. long; flowers 2 to several in a cluster; perianth pale green or straw- 

 colored, 4-6 mm. long, the segments oblong-lanceolate, broadly hyaline-margined, 

 the outer ones prominently cuspidate and longer than the inner ones; stamens 6, 

 about as long as the inner perianth segments, the anthers much longer than the 

 filaments; capsule ovate-oblong, acute, extending slightly beyond the perianth; 

 seeds with white appendage at each end, slightly margined on the side, finely retic- 

 ulate. 



Alkaline and saline flats in deserts, and marshy areas below springs and along 

 streams, in Ariz. (Kearney & Peebles) ; also Ut., Nev. and Calif. 



9. Juncus acutus var. sphaerocarpus Engelm. Spiny rush. Fig. 314. 



Stems in large tufts, 6-12 dm. tall, stout, pungent, terete or slightly compressed; 

 leaves from basal sheaths terete, nearly as long as and resembling the stems; invo- 

 lucral bract 5-15 cm. long, stout, pungent; panicle compound, with branches very 

 unequal in length, the longer ones 10-20 cm. long; flower clusters 2- to 4-flowered; 

 perianth 2-4 mm. long, yellowish-brown, the outer segments broadly lanceolate, 

 acute, scarious-margined, the inner ones shorter, refuse at the very broad, scarious- 

 margined apex; stamens slightly shorter than the perianth, the anthers much 

 longer than the filaments; capsule broadly obovate or subglobose, apiculate, brown, 

 extending well beyond the perianth; seeds acute at each end or slightly tailed, 

 finely reticulate. 



Coastal salt marshes and inland on alkaline or saline sinks and seepy areas 

 about springs, in Ariz. (Coconino, Yavapai, Mohave and Yuma cos.); nat. of 

 Eur. also introd. into s. Calif, and Baja Calif. 



10. Juncus bufonius L. Toad-rush. Fig. 315. 



Tufted annual 4-18 (-30) cm. tall; culms 0.4-0.7 mm. thick, erect, mostly 

 simple, often reddish-tinged; sheaths often swollen basally, thicker than the blades, 

 hyaline-margined; blades involute-filiform, often arcuate especially terminally; pan- 

 icles a fourth to four fifths the entire height of the plant, of a few ascending 

 usually weak and somewhat arcuate branches (each with a few remote flowers), 

 the subterminal flowers appressed or nearly so; bracteoles 3 beneath each flower, 

 the lowest opposite the minute pedicel; perianth 4-6 (-8) mm. long, the parts 

 erect, sharp-pointed, medially green, marginally broadly white-membranous; sta- 

 mens 6 or less commonly reduced to 3; capsule turgid-eflipsoid. 



615 



