JPNCACEJE. 402 



ORDER CLVI. JUNCACE.E. The Rush Tribe. 



Perianth more or less glume-like, regular, 6-Ieaved, in 2 series (sepals and petals). 



Sta. — 6, rarely 3, hypogynous. Anthers "J-celled. 



Ova. — -■j-carpeled, 3 (or by the dissepiments not reaching the centre l)-celled. 



Styles united into 1. Stigmas 3. 



Fr. — Capsule 3- valved, with the dissepiments from the middle of the valves. 



Seeds lew or many, with a fleshy albumen. 



Herbaceous plants, generally grass-like, often leafless, with small, dry. green flowers. 

 Inflorescence cymose, capitate or fascicled. They are chiefly natives of tlie cool parts of 

 the earth. Properties unimportant. 



Genera. 



Capsule mo.stly3-celIed. Seeds numerous Jiincus. 1 



Capsule l-celled. Seeds 3, fixed to the bottom of the cell Luzuta. 2 



1. JUNCUS. 

 Perianth persistent ; stamens G; capsule mostly 3-cclIed ; 

 seeds numerous, atticlicd to the inner edge of ihe dissepi- 

 ments. 



Lat. jurtgo, to join ; because ropes were anciently made of these plants. 

 * Leaves none, or all radical. 



1. J. EFFU'SUS. 



Scape straight, not rigid ; juinicle lateral, loose, decompound ; capsules obo- 

 vate, obtuse. Very coniinon in ditches and moist lands, I'orming tufts. Scape 

 solid witii a spongy pith, soft, striate, 2 — 3 feet high, bearing a very loose, 

 spreading panicle, which protrudes from a fissure opening in the side of the 

 stem about half way up. Flowers small, green, numerous, with 3 white 

 anthers and yellowish seeds. June, July. Snjl Rush. BaUrush. 



2. J. &ETA'CEUS. RosthoiD. 



Sca/^e filiform, striate; umhel lateral, compound, few-flowered •, peduncles 

 compressed, several-flowered; perianth segments \ery acuie. Swamps. A 

 very slender species, growing in tulls, about '2 feet high. Scapes sheathed at 

 base. I'anicle small, 20 — 30 flowered, bursting from the side of the scape 

 some distance below the summit. July. 



3. J. FILIFOR'MIS. L. (not jl/z.) 



Creeping, leafless ; scape slender, filiform, minutely striate, flaccid ; panicle 

 subsimple, lateral, near the middle of the scape; sepals pale, nearly equal, 

 lanceolate, a little longer than the pale, shining, obovate, mucronate capsule. 

 White Hills. N. 11. Green. Scape a few inches in length. 



4. J. te'nuis. 



S/cm erect, roundish, simple; Ze'/pM setaceous, channeled ; cnrymh dense, 

 terminal; leaves of the calyx acuminate, longer than the obtuse, 3-sided 

 capsule. About foot-paths and road-sides. Stem leafy at the base, about 

 8 — 12 inches high, with a long, leafy involucre at top investing the corymb. 

 July. Slender Rush. 



* * Stem leafy. Leaves subcylindrical, nodose-articulate. 



5. J. NODO'SUS. L. J. polycephalus. Mx. 

 Stem leaves siibcoinpressed ; panicle terminal, decompound ; heads globose, 



dense, 10 — If) flowered; sepals subequal, lanceolate, rigid, very acute, about 

 equaling the oblong-lanceolate, acute, triquetrous, shining capsule ; segments 

 3—6. In boijgy meadows. Sternly — 2 feet high. Leaves thick, jointed by 

 internal transveTse partitions. Pleads resembling small burrs, some sessile, 

 others pedunculate. Leaflets of the perianth produced into a short cusp or 

 awn. Aug. Sept. 



/3. heads mostly but 2, one of them lateral and pedunculate, the other sessile. 

 Plant slender, 8 — 12 inclies high. 



