HEXANDRIA— MONOGYNIA. Juncus. 167 



dered as Haller's n. 1318, are the cornpressus, not ccenosus ; 

 which is no wonder, the latter being a maritime species. 



12. J.Ges?ieri. Slender Spreading Rush. 



Stem simple, naked. Leaves slightly channelled. Panicle 

 forked, racemose, shorter than the bractea. Calyx-leaves 

 lanceolate, taper-pointed, three-ribbed, longer than the 

 oval capsule. 



J. gracilis. Engl. Bot. tJ. 3 1 . <• 2 1 74 . Comp. 56. Bicheno Tr. of 

 L. Soc. 17. 12. 313. 



J. tenuis. Hook. Scot. 108 ; but not of Pursh. 



Junci genus aliud. Gesn. Fasc. 12. t.5.f. 13. 



On the mountains of Scotland. 



In dry elevated pastures in Scotland. Mr. Dickson. By a rivulet 

 in marshy ground, among the mountains of Clova, Angusshire, 

 very rare. Mr. G. Don. 



Perennial. July. 



Root fibrous, slightly woolly, as in grasses that grow in sand. 

 Stem very slender, upright, a foot or more in height, naked, 

 somewhat triangular in the upper part. Leaves very few, radical, 

 shorter than the stem, erect, linear, narrow, acute ; convex and 

 ribbed beneath 5 channelled, but shallow, above j involute when 

 dry ; dilated and membranous at the base. Bracteas 2 or 3, 

 leafy, erect ; the principal one rising above the panicle ; the 

 others much shorter. Panicle forked, of 3 or 4 very unequal, 

 rather spreading, branches ; the larger ones also forked ; the 

 upper part of all racemose. Fl. nearly sessile, pale. Calyx- 

 leaves lanceolate, taper-pointed, acute, green, 3-ribbed, striated, 

 with narrow, white, membranous edges. Capsule pale brown, 

 polished, oval, or slightly obovate, with a minute point, consi- 

 derably shorter than the calyx j valves very slightly emarginate. 

 Seeds very numerous, minute, pellucid, amber-coloured. 



J. tenuis of Willdenow, and of Pursh, from Mr. F. Boott, though 

 similar to this, differs essentially in having the panicle cymose 

 throughout, not racemose ; calyx-leaves broader, with 2 princi- 

 pal ribs, of a light brown, the keel being green, and for the 

 most part flat. 

 The panicle, calyx and capsule, in Gesner's figure most precisely 

 answer to our J. gracilis ; but he accidentally represents a leaf 

 on the middle of the stem. Haller refers to this synonym under 

 our compressus, with which it by no means agrees. Mr. Bicheno 

 is scarcely exact as to the chronology of the name gracilis ; for 

 Mr. Brown's Prodromus appeared but in 1810, and I certainly 

 had not seen it when p. 2174 of Engl. Bot. was printed. Ne- 

 vertheless it is better to give up a name which may be disputed, 

 and which has been variously applied before. Gesner's synonym 

 seems incontrovertible. 



