In mud and wet sand about pools, ponds and along streams, in marshes and 

 boggy areas about springs and in flowing water, in Okla. (Cimarron Co.) and 

 in most of Tex. except extreme Panhandle and Rio Grande Plains, N. M. (wide- 

 spread) and Ariz, (throughout state), scattered, locally abundant, spring; temp, 

 regions, nearly throughout the world, not nat. with us. 



Var. halophilus Buch. & Fern, of brackish soils has been reported from Arizona. 



11. Juncus sphaerocarpus Nees. Round-fruited toad-rush. 



Annual, branching at the base, 4-20 cm. tall, the branches filiform; leaves nar- 

 row, the blades flat or involute, 1 to 3 on the stem; inflorescence usually occupy- 

 ing more than half the length of the stem; flowers inserted singly on the branches 

 and more or less remote; perianth 3-4 mm. long, the segments lanceolate, acu- 

 minate, greenish with white scarious margins, subequal in length (or the outer 

 segments slightly longer), spreading at maturity; stamens 6, about one half as 

 long as the segments, the anthers shorter than the filaments; capsule oblong-ovoid 

 or subglobose, about two thirds as long as the perianth; seeds oblong, faintly 

 reticulate. 



On edge of small ponds, pools and streams in Ariz. (Coconino, Yavapai and 

 Pima COS.), July-Aug.; an Old World species now rather widespread in Am. 



This species is very similar in many of its characters to J. hiifonius, but it can 

 usually be distinguished by its slender, smaller habit, smaller flowers, the length 

 and arrangement of the inflorescence, and its broader capsule. 



12. Juncus confusus Coville. 



Perennial, sparingly tufted; stems 35-50 cm. tall, slender, erect; leaves narrow, 

 almost filiform, flat or involute; auricles produced beyond insertion, scarious; in- 

 florescence 0.5-2 cm. long, short and compact, pale; bract of inflorescence 2-7 

 cm. long, exceeding the inflorescence; bracteoles present, large, ovate, scarious, 

 obtuse or acutish; perianth 3.5-4 mm. long, parts nearly equal, appressed, seg- 

 ments stramineous with dark stripes on each side, lanceolate, acutish, scarious 

 at margins; stamens 6; capsule oblong, a little shorter than perianth, triangular, 

 retuse at apex, completely 3-celled; seeds oblong, apiculate. 



In wet meadows and wet soil about lakes and ponds, in N. M. (Rio Arriba Co.) 

 and Ariz. (Coconino and Santa Cruz cos.); Mont, and Sask. to B.C., s. to N.M., 

 Ariz, and Calif. 



13. Juncus tenuis Willd. Slender-rush. Fig. 316. 



Tufted perennial 8-30 (-45) cm. tall; culms erect, simple, about 1 mm. thick; 

 leaf blades flat, 0.5-0.9 mm. broad, occasionally slightly involute marginally, soft, 

 often almost as long as the culms; auricles of sheaths scarious or broadly scarious 

 margined, 1-2.5 mm. long on the longer leaves, distinctly prolonged laterally more 

 than centrally; panicle terminal, 3-6 (-9) cm. long, about a fourth or a fifth 

 the total height of the plant, 15 to 25 (to 30) -flowered, with branches 0.15-0.2 

 mm. thick and ascending; bracts slender, soft, usually much-exceeding the 

 panicle; bracteoles 3 beneath each flower (the lowest opposite the flower on the 

 floriferous node); flowers solitary or occasionally several of them approximate; 

 sepals 3-4 mm. long, greenish-white, long-tapered to the sharp point, soft, spread- 

 ing in fruit (the almost setaceous tip then often broadly spreading); stamens 6; 

 capsule oblong-ovoid, shorter than to rarely equaling the perianth. Incl. var. 

 anthelatus Wieg. 



Wet sands in woods, in wet soils on edge of ponds, lakes and streams, in Okla. 

 (McCurtain and Adair cos.), e. and s.e. Tex., N.M. (Colfax Co.) and Ariz. 

 (Coconino, Graham, Cochise and Pima cos.), infrequent, spring, rarely summer; 



618 



