3 1 8 JuncacecB. \juncus. 



spongy, internodes short; stem 3-5 ft., stout, leafy throughout^ 

 or leafless below; 1. 2-3 ft, lanceolate, acuminate, flat, coria- 

 ceous, closely veined and cross-venuled, midrib broad, convex 

 beneath, petiole 1-3 ft, base sheathing ; panicle 3-4 ft high, 

 shortly, very stoutly peduncled, very broad, decompound,, 

 rhachis and branches stout, branchlets spreading and recurved; 

 bracts at the lower axils 8 in., ensiform, upper smaller ; fl. 

 about \ in. diam., rather distant, sessile, green; fil. short,, 

 dilated below, anth. oblong ; berry pisiform, usually i -seeded, 

 dark purple, shining. 



Ponds and wet places in moist low country, mostly below 1000 ft. ; 

 rather rare, but locally abundant. Kalutara (MacRae), Kitalgalle, 

 Ratnapura, Munemalwatte, Pasdun Korale. FI. March ; green. 



Also in Malaya. 



The long flagelliform shoots float in the water; the large erect panicle 

 is very handsome and palm-like. 



CXXXVIII.— JUNCACEyE. 



Erect, rarely annual, glabrous herbs; stems tufted, usually on 

 a short creeping rootstock ; 1. terete or compressed, or reduced 

 to sheaths ; fl, small, bisexual, in axillary or terminal cymes, 

 bractcatc ; perianth inferior, 6 -partite, persistent, segm. 

 biseriate, subequal, narrow, coriaceous or thin, often brown 

 and shining, imbricate in bud ; stam. 3 or 6, inserted on the 

 bases of the segm., fil. long or short, anth, basifixed, dehiscing 

 introrsely; ov. i- or 3-celled, cells many-ovuled, style long or 

 short, stigmas 3, filiform, ov. anatropous; capsule 1-3-cclled, 

 loculicidally 3-valvcd ; seeds erect, oblong, testa thin, embryo 

 small in dense endosperm, 



JUNCVS, L. 



For characters, see Order. — Sp. about 150; 26 in Fl. B. Ind. 



Stem leafless i. J. effusus. 



Stem leafy 2. J. prismatoc.arpuS. 



I. J. efiusus, /,/;/;;. Sp. PL 326 (1753). 



J. i^iaiatts, Thw. l"num. 340. Trim. Syst. Cat. 96 (non Ehrh.). C. P. 

 1003. 



Fl. B. Ind. vi. 392. Reichb. Ic. Fl. Germ. t. 920. 



Dcn.sely tufted in often circular masses ; rootstock short, 

 stout, creeping ; stems 1-2 ft., J-/; in. diam., terete, finely 

 striate, tips pungent, sheathed at the base with scales, pith 

 continuous, 1. o ; cymes lateral on the stem, an inch or more 



