NOTES ON THE FLORA OF WESTERN NOVA SCOTIA 



1921. 



M. L. Fernald. 

 {Continued from page 16'.'/.) 



**Juncus EFFUSUS L., \ ill'. CONGLOMERATUS (L.) Engelin. See 

 Fernald & Wiegand, Rhodora, xii. 85 (1910). Locally abundant in 

 peaty soil, Shelburne. The old record from Nova Scotia was based 

 on young and unidentifiable material. 



J. i:i n sus, var. Pylaei (Laharpe) Fernald & Wiegand. Hants 

 Co.: swales near Uniacke Lake. 



J. subcaudatus (Engelm.) Coville & Blake, var. planisepalus 

 Fernald, Rhodora, xxiii. 241 (1922). Many new stations east to 

 Hants and Halifax Cos. 



J. militaris Bigel. The commonest form of J. militaris has, as 

 described by Bigelow, the " Culm . . . with a long sheath or 

 two at base, and commonly another above the leaf. Leaf cylindrical, 

 erect, . . . inserted below the middle of the culm, and exceeding 

 it in height," 1 and tradition, as recorded in the herbarium of the late 

 T. O. Fuller, tells us that " Bigelow named this militaris because it 

 reminded him of a soldier carrying his bayonet above his head." 

 So general is this combi nation of characters, the very tall and erect 

 leaf and above it the firm bladeless sheath, that they have been 

 treated as diagnostic. Thus, in the Pflanzenreich, Buchenau dis- 

 tinguishes J. militaris from related species by "Folium frondosum 

 unicum, ca. in medium caulem insertum, strictum, crassum, unitubu- 

 losum, pungens, usque 100 cm. longum," 2 while the key-character 

 used in the 7th edition of Gray's Manual is: "Upper cauline leaves 



i Bigelow, El. Bost. ed. 2: 139 (1824). 



2 Buchenau in Engler, Pflanzenr. iv. pt. 36: 173 (1906). 



