ENGELMANN — NORTH AM. SPECIES OF JUNCUS. 479 



where it grows with several forms of J. Canadensis" C E. 

 Smith, lib. n. 91 ; also at Quakerbridge, C. F. Parker; flow- 

 ering in August and in fruit in September. — An interesting 

 and well characterized species closely allied with the last 

 ones, with which it has in common the longer inner sepals 

 and the tailed seeds, distinguished from them by its rough 

 stem and leaves, its large flowers with 6 large stamens, and 

 its large dark seeds with (usually) purplish tails. — Rough- 

 ness is a rare character in the genus Juncus, which I find no- 

 ticed only in the South American J. ritdis, Kunth, and the 

 Portuguese J. rugosus, Steud.; in these the flowers are smooth 

 just as in our species, while in J.falcatus the stem and leaves 

 are smooth and only the flowers rough (see p. 452). All parts 

 of this plant are very rigid, the stems l\-l\ feet high, the 

 panicle 2 or 3-6 or 7 inches long, less in expansion ; fruit- 

 heads 4-6 lines in diameter, usually with 3-5, sometimes only 

 with 2 flowers; flowers 2£ lines long or more; capsule equal- 

 ing or scarcely exceeding the rigid and sharp pointed green 

 or darkish tipped sepals; outer sepals indistinctly 5-nerved, 

 inner ones (at least in the dry state) strongly 7-nerved ; cap- 

 sule tough and hard, reddish or greenish brown, at base com- 

 pletely, upwards partially, 3-celled ; seeds 0.5-0.6 line long, 

 their diameter being nearly equal to half their length, the 

 lower appendage thick and usually short, the upper one not 

 quite as long as the seed itself; whole seed, with the tail, 

 about l- 4 lines long; side of seed with 12 or 14 ribs, and usu- 

 ally distinctly cross-lineolate. 



47. J. Mertexsianus, Bong. Veg. Sitcha in Mem. Ac. St. 

 Petersb., ser. 6, vol. 2 (1833), 167, ex Kunth, I.e. 361 : cauli- 

 bus e rhizomate crasso repente casspitosis humilioribus (spi- 

 thameis pedalibus) compressis debilibus; vaginis foliorum 

 averse compressorum auriculatis; floribus pluribus (15-25) 

 fusco-atris pedicellatis in capitulum laxius singulum seu rarius 

 binaternave aggregatis spatha brevioribus; sepalis ovato-lan- 

 ceolatis, exterioribus acuminato-subulatis, interioribus ple- 

 rumque paulo brevioribus obtusis mucronatis seu rarius exte- 

 riora ajquantibus acutis, stamina (3-) 6 superantibus capsulam 

 late obovatam obtusam mucronatam sequantibus seu super- 

 antibus; antheris oblongis seu oblongo-linearibus ssepissime 

 mucronatis filamentum sequantibus seu eo brevioribus; stylo 

 quam ovarium obtusum plerumque breviore; seminibus ob- 

 lanceolato-obovatis fusiformibus utrumque breviter caudatis 

 reticulato-costatis, arcis lineolatis. — J. ensifolius, Hook £F1. 

 Bor. Am. 2, 191 ; Gray in PI. Hall & Harb. 1. c. 



Var. 3. pa?iiculatus : caule elatiore (ultra bipedali); vagi- 

 nis vix auriculatis; capitulis (6-9) minoribus (10-15-tloris) in 

 paniculam compositam dispositis. 



From the islands of the North-west coast, Sitcha, Mer- 



