RUSH FAMILY 



371 



6. Juncoides spicatum (L.) Kimtze. 

 Spiked Wood-rush. Fig. 910. 



Jnnctis spicatum L. .Sp. PI. 330. 1753. 



Luznla spicata DC. Fl. Fr. 3: 161. 1805. 



Juncoides spicatum Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. 725. 1891. 



Stems closely tufted without rootstocks, erect, 

 10^0 cm. high, "distantly 1-3-leaved, tapering into a 

 filiform summit. Leaf-blades 1-3 mrn. broad, often 

 involute, tapering to a short apex, stifliy erect, spar- 

 ingly webbed especially toward the base ; infiores- 

 cence nodding, spike-like, often interrupted, commonly 

 12-25 mm. long, usually exceeded by the lowest 

 involute foliose bract; bractlets ovate-lanceolate, 

 acuminate, equalling the perianth, sparingly lacerate ; 

 perianth 2-2.5 mm. long, brown with hyaline mar- 

 gins, the segments lanceolate, aristate-acuminate ; 

 capsule broadly ovoid, bluntly acute, about two- 

 thirds as long 'as the perianth ; seeds narrowly and 

 oI)liquely obovoid. 



Alpine slopes, Hudsonian and Arctic Zones; Alaska to 

 I-abrador, south to the southern Sierra Nevada, California, 

 Colorado and New York; also in Europe and Asia. Type 

 loiality: Europe. 



7. Juncoides campestre (L.) Kuntze. 

 Common Wood-rush. Fig". 911. 



Juncns campestre L. Sp. PI. 329. 1753. 

 Luzula campestre DC. Fl. Fr. 3: 161. 1805. 

 Lnciila camosa Meyer, .?yn. Luzul. 21. 1823. 

 Juncoides campestre Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. 722. 1891. 



Stems densely tufted, erect, 10-50 cm. high, 2-4- 

 leaved. Leaf-blades flat, 2-7 mm. wide, tapering at the 

 apex to a blunt almost gland-like point, sparingly 

 webbed when young ; inflorescense umbelloid, some- 

 times congested ; its several Ijranches unequal, each 

 bearing an oblong to short-cylindric dense spike ; lowest 

 bract foliose often exceeding the inflorescence ; bractlets 

 ovate, acuminate, fimbriate at apex ; perianth 2-3 mm. 

 long, brown, the segments lanceolate-ovate, acuminate ; 

 capsule ovoid or broadly oblong ; seed with an oblong 

 body, about 1 mm. long, supported on a narrow white 

 loosely cellular strophiole-like base about one-half as 

 long. 



In woodlands, Upper Sonoran to Arctic Zones; widely dis- 

 tributed almost throughout the United States and British 

 America; also in Europe and Asia. Type locality: Europe. 

 Blooming in early spring and consisting of several different 

 races or varieties. 



Family 17. MELANTHACEAE. 



Bunch-flower Family. 



Leafy-stemmed or scapose perennial herbs, with elongated or bulb-like root- 

 stocks. Leaves alternate, sometimes all basal, broad or grass-like, parallel-veined, 

 the veins often connected by transverse veinlets. Flowers perfect, polygamous, or 

 dioecious, regular, in terminal spikes, racemes or panicles, or solitary. Perianth 

 usuallv petaloid, of 6 separate or nearly separate, usually persistent segments. 

 Stamens 6, borne on the base of the perianth-segments. iVnthers small, 2-celled, 

 oblong or ovate, or confluently 1 -celled and cordate or reniform, mostly versatile 

 and extrorsely or introrsely dehiscent. Ovary 3-celled, superior or rarely slightly 

 inferior : ovules few or numerous in each cavity ; anatropous or amphitropous. 

 Styles 3, distinct or nearly so. Fruit a capsule with septicidal dehiscence. Seeds 

 commonly tailed or appendaged ; embryo small ; endosperm usually copious. 



About 40 genera and 145 species, widely distributed. . 



Anthers oblong or ovate, 2-celled. 

 Anthers introrsely dehiscent. 



Flowers involucrate; capsule septicidal. 



Flowers not involucrate; capsule loculicidal. 

 Anthers extrorsely dehiscent. 

 Anthers cordate or reniform, confluently l-celled. 



Plants from a coated bull), glabrous; leaves grass-like. 



Flowers nodding; perianth-segments glandless. 



Flowers erect; perianth-segments with a prominent gland. 

 Plants from a thick rootstock, pubescent; leaves broad. 



1. Tofieldia. 



2. Abania. 



3. Xerophyllum. 



4. Stenanthium. 



5. Zygadenus. 



6. yeratrnm. 



