290 JUNCACEAE JuilCUS 



36. JUNCACEAE Vent. Rush Family* 



Plants glabrous; capsule usually 3-celled, with very numerous minute seeds 



936. Juncus. p. 290. 



Plants hairy or arachnoid; capsule 1-celled, with 3 large seeds 997. Lnzula, p. 300. 



936. JUNCUS [Tourn.] L. 



Inflorescence apparently growing from the side of the culm, the involucral bract terete, 

 erect and appearing like a continuation of the culm; culm leaves reduced to blade- 

 less sheaths. (Section Genuini.) 

 Stamens 3, opposite the sepals; inflorescence greenish or stramineous; rootstocks 

 short-creeping with inconspicuous internodes; culms densely cespitose. 

 Sepals not exceeding the petals, rarely exceeding the capsule, 2.5-3.5 mm long, 

 slightly if at all spreading, about the same color as the capsule; culms not 



sulcate 1. J. effusus var. solutus. 



Sepals exceeding both the petals and the capsule, 2.7-4 mm long, more rigid and 

 spreading, usually lighter in color than the capsule; culms sulcate below the 



inflorescence la. J. effusus var. Pylaei. 



Stamens 6, opposite the sepals and petals; inflorescence dark brown at maturity; 

 rootstocks long-creeping with conspicuous internodes; culms usually well sepa- 

 rated, arising in a single row. 

 Inflorescence not diffuse, 1.5-3.5 cm long; flowers approximate or subapproximate. 



2. J. balticus var. littoralis. 



Inflorescence diffuse, 4-12 cm long; flowers widely separated 



2a. J. balticus var. littoralis f . dissitiflorus. 



Inflorescence obviously terminal or, if not, the involucral bracts fiat or channeled along 

 the upper side; culm leaves with well developed blades. 

 Leaves flat, or in age involute, not septate (in J. Greenei terete but not septate). 

 Flowers borne singly on the branches of the inflorescence, not in heads, each with 

 a pair of bracteoles at the base in addition to the bractlet at the base of the 

 pedicel. (Section Poiophylli.) 

 Inflorescence more than half the height of the plant; flowers scattered along the 



loose forking branches; annual 3. J. bufonius. 



Inflorescence much less than half the height of the plant; perennial. 



Perianth segments obtuse, appressed ; leaf sheaths covering half of the stem or 



more 4. J. Gerardi. 



Perianth segments acute or acuminate, usually more or less spreading; leaf 

 sheaths covering a fourth of the stem or less. 

 Leaves terete; capsule much exceeding the perianth, reddish or castaneous. 



5. J. Greenei. 



Leaves flat; capsule little if at all exceeding the perianth, green to stramine- 

 ous or dull brown. 

 Bracts shorter than the inflorescence; flowers conspicuously secund on 

 the usually incurved branches; capsule 3-celled; leaves usually less 



than a third the height of the culms 6. J. sectindus. 



Rracts (at least the lowermost) exceeding the inflorescence; flowers not 



conspicuously secund; capsule 1-celled or imperfectly 3-celled; leaves 



usually about half the height of the culms. 



Auricles at the summit of the sheaths very thin, white, and scarious, 



conspicuously produced beyond the point of insertion, 1-3.5 mm 



long; bracteoles blunt. 



Flowers mostly clustered at the tips of the branches I.J. macer. 



Flowers scattered or somewhat secund along the branches. 



* Contributed by Frederick J. Hermann, University of Michigan. 



