ENGELMANN — NORTH AM. SPECIES OF JUNCUS. 441 



strongly compressed stem, together with the broad and 

 apruptly acuminate sepals, distinguish it from the smaller 

 forms of J. Balticus, the absence of leaves and the form of 

 the sepals from J. compressus, with both of which it is closely 

 allied by the form of the stamens, so different from those of 

 any other American or European Juncus of this section. — 

 Stems a foot high, four or five inches of which belong to the 

 spathe ; inflorescence small, rather compact ; flowers 2% lines 

 long ; sepals dark brown, greenish in the middle, membrana- 

 ceous on margin.— I have named this plant for Prof. Wm. H. 

 Brewer in acknowledgment of his services in the cause of 

 science in California. 



5. J. Balticus, Dethard. ap. Willd., is well characterized by 

 its long and large anthers, which it has in common only with 

 the two last mentioned species, and its terete stem and 

 leafless vaginas. Originally found on the shores of the Baltic, 

 it has been traced to those of north-western Europe and to 

 our north-eastern coasts from Newfoundland to Massachu- 

 setts ; but here it leaves its seaside home and appears in 

 several swamps in Lancaster county in the interior of Penn- 

 sylvania; all along the great lakes it is a common plant, not 

 unexpected, to be sure, as on their shores we meet with many 

 other marine plants, such as CaMle, Lathyrus maritimus, 

 Euphorbia polygonifolia, and others, while they are quite 

 lree from saline matter. Is it the ocean-like spray of the 

 waves of these immense bodies of fresh water, is it the ever- 

 varying sand formation of the downs, which invites sea-strand 

 plants, or are they the remnants of an ocean-coast vegetation 

 left from a period when the beds of these lakes were filled by 

 an immense arm of the sea ? Be that as it may, our species 

 is not confined by the line of the lakes, but appears again 

 on the upper Mississippi and St. Peters rivers, hence north- 

 westward into the British possessions, and westward to 

 the Mauvaises Terres and to the head waters of the Mis- 

 souri, and then southward along the Rocky Mountains to 

 Colorado and New Mexico, and farther west to the Cascade 

 Mountains in Oregon. We find it again as a true maritime 

 plant on the Pacific coast from the northern Russian islands 

 to California and in Chili. This Pacific form is so different 

 from the others that some will regard it as a distinct type. 

 The different forms may be thus characterized : 



J. Balticus genuinus : caulibus tenuioribus rigidis farctis ; 

 panicuhc laxioris ramis dichotomis ; floribus minoribus ; cap- 

 sula obtusa mucronata, seminibus grosse lineolatis. 



Var. a. Miropceus: sepalis exterioribus acutioribus longio- 

 ribus capsulam late ovatara obtusam mucronulatam subae- 

 quantibus ; antheris minoribus filamento duplo longioribus ; 



