W. Va., N.M. Ariz, and Calif.; S. A., Afr. and Austral. 



32. Juncus Mertensianus Bong. 



Perennial plants; stems 10-40 cm. tall, slender, cespitose from slender matted 

 rootstocks; leaves 1-3 mm. wide, terete, 2 to 3 to a stem, somewhat compressed, 

 septate but often obscurely so; sheaths with scarious margins and bearing auricles; 

 inflorescence usually a solitary head, this becoming spherical, about 10-12 mm. 

 in diameter, many-flowered; perianth 3.5-4 mm. long, dark brown to brownish- 

 black, segments about equal, lanceolate, acute to acuminate especially the outer; 

 stamens 6; capsule trigonous, oval, obtuse to mucronate. equaling or slightly 

 shorter than the perianth, reportedly 1 -celled; seeds caudate or not caudate. 



In moist or wet places, bogs, in mud of streams and edge of lakes, in N. M. 

 (Taos, Colfax, Santa Fe and San Miguel cos.) and Ariz. (Coconino Co.); Alta. to 

 Alas., s. to N.M., Ariz, and Calif. 



33. Juncus badius Suksdorf. 



Perennial plants with slender rhizomes; stems 20-50 cm. tall, nearly or quite 

 terete; leaves 1-2 mm. in diameter, terete or somewhat flattened laterally, septate, 



1 short leaf present over one half way up stem; sheaths with scarious margins 

 and rounded rather scarious auricles; inflorescence open, 2-5 cm. long with 4 to 12 

 heads, these 6-9 mm. across and 5- to 10-flowered; bracts 5-30 mm. long; perianth 

 2-3 mm. long, dark brown, the segments lanceolate, acuminate, about equal; 

 bractlets ovate; capsule slightly shorter than the perianth, obovoid, truncate or 

 broadly rounded at apex; seeds not caudate. 



Moist or wet ground, on edge of lakes and streams, in N.M. (Taos and Rio 

 Arriba cos.) and Ariz. (Coconino, Apache and Yavapai cos.); Wyo. to Wash., s. 

 to N.M. and Ariz. 



34. Juncus nodosus L. Fig. 322. 



Perennial with long creeping rhizomes bearing tuberlike enlargements; flower- 

 ing culms colonial, 11-30 cm. long, 0.7-1.2 mm. thick, erect, terete or slightly 

 compressed; blades 2 or 3 per culm, terete. 0.5-1 mm. thick near the middle, 

 long-tapered to a thin point, with some complete but sometimes weak and in- 

 conspicuous septa; inflorescence terminal, 2-5 cm. long, sparingly branched, of 



2 to 4 heads; basal bract of inflorescence leaflike, about equaling the inflorescence 

 or exceeding it by 1-3 cm. at most; heads mostly well-separated from each other. 

 7-10 mm. thick. 15- to 30-flowered; sepals and petals lanceolate. 3-4 mm. long, 

 brownish-stramineous, with acute semirigid tips; bractlets solitary at the base of 

 each pedicel; stamens 6 (occasionally 3. fide F. J. Hermann), the anthers shorter 

 than the filaments; capsules at maturity slightly exscrted, narrowly ellipsoid- 

 trigonous. 3 to 4 times as long as thick, brownish, shining, wholly dehiscent (even 

 the abruptly acute apex); seeds not tailed. Incl. var. nieridianits Herm. 



Mud along creeks and streams, in flowing water and on wet sandbars along 

 streams, in the Tex. Trans-Pecos and N. M. (Rio Arriba. Union. Colfax. San Juan 

 and San Migeul cos.), summer; temp. N.A. s. to Va., O., Ind., 111., la. and Neb., 

 at higher elev. to Coah., Chih., Ncv. and Calif. 



35. Juncus tcxanus (Engelm.) Cov. 



Perennial with elongate slender rhizomes bearing tuberlike enlargements; flower- 

 ing culms colonial, erect, essentially terete, 2-4 (-6) dm. long. 1-2 mm. thick 

 near the middle, simple; leaves few; blades essentially terete, with several complete 

 (though in some specimens weak) septa; inflorescence terminal (subtended by a 

 bract shorter than or only slightly surpassing it), at maturity 5-10 cm. long, of 



3 to 12 (to 19) 15- to 25-flowered heads which are remote from each other at 

 the ends of the short branches and 8-10 (-11) mm. thick; bractlet solitary at 



634 



