JUNCUS BALTICUS WILLD. IN ENGLAND 351 



Juncus articulatus var. littoralis, Scirpus setaceus, Carex panicea, 

 C. CEderi, Equisetum variegatum, and others, together with several 

 bryophytes, notably Bryum ventricosum, B. calophyllum, B. 

 intermedium, and Pellia calycina. 



In October of this year I again visited the locality, this time 

 in company with Mr. J. A. Wheldon and Mr. W. G. Travis, and 

 a systematic hunt was made of the neighbouring dune-hollows, 

 with the result that J. balticus appears to be very local in its 

 distribution and, though occurring in some quantity where it does 

 occur, to be confined to the one series of dune-hollows in the fixed 

 dunes where it was first discovered. In these places it appeared 

 perfectly native and there seemed no reason to look on it as an 

 introduction. 



J. balticus is a species with a moderately wide distribution ; 

 it occurs in both North and South America, extending from 

 Canada to Mexico and California, and in South America in the 

 more temperate parts of Chili and Patagonia. It is absent from 

 the Tropics. It also occurs in Asia, from the Behring Sea to 

 Japan. In Europe it occurs on the coasts of the north-west part. 

 It is known from the coasts round the North Sea, being found in 

 Norway, Sweden, Eussia, North Germany, Denmark, Holland, 

 and also in the Faroe Islands and Iceland, but not in France or 

 Belgium. A very closely allied species, or possibly only a variety, 

 J. pyrenceus, occurs on the Pyrenees. In the British Isles it 

 has been found on sandy coasts, from Fifeshire northwards, up 

 the east coast of Scotland, and on the west coast, from Sutherland 

 and the Hebrides. It has not been reported for Ireland. Thus 

 the present record marks a distinct extension of the range of the 

 species in North- West Europe, and a new record for England. 



J. balticus has also been reported from New Caledonia, but 

 not elsewhere in the Australasian region. 



J. balticus belongs to the section of the genus with erect 

 stems, with the leaves all basal and, in most cases, reduced to 

 sheaths, a pseudolateral inflorescence, with the subtending bract 

 cylindrical and apparently forming a continuation of the stem. 

 J. balticus and its nearest allies are further distinguished in 

 having the stem quite smooth, not ridged as is the case in J. 

 effusus, &c, due to the fact that the subepidermal strands of fibres 

 are here quite absent. J. balticus has a creeping, not caespitose, 

 rhizome with considerably elongated internodes. The inflor- 

 escence is many-flowered and regularly branched, the branches 

 being elongated and ending in few-flowered drepania. The 

 perianth segments are all acute. The fruit is triseptate and 

 equals or exceeds the perianth ; it is mucronate and somewhat 

 pyramidal at its apex. 



The closely allied J. arcticus, which occurs in Arctic Europe 

 and Asia, and on the Alps, differs in having the inflorescence 

 branches very short, the inner perianth obtuse, and the fruit 

 obtuse and mucronate and distinctly exceeding the perianth. 



J. pyrenceus has the perianth segments unequal, and all sharply 

 acuminate and considerably exceeding the fruit. 



