726 Order 152.— COMMELYNACE.E. 



countries. Sts. many, 3 to 8' long. Lvs. few, 1 to 2' long. Fla. many, secund. 

 Jn.— Aug. 



21 J. Greenii Oakes & Tuckm. Scape tall, subtcrcte, striate ; lvs. filiform-seta" 

 ceous, subterete, scarcely channeled, shorter than the scape, with sheathing base; 

 panicle dense, branches suberect; bracts setaceous, one of tliem muck longer than 

 the panicle; fls. single, approximate; sep. ovate, acute, twice shorter than the tri- 

 angular-acute, shining caps. — Wet grounds, R. I., Mass. (Ricard). A handsome 

 rush, 1 to 2f high, rigid, strict. Lvs. all radical. Panicle 2 to 3' long, one of the 

 bracts twice longer, the other twice shorter. Caps. 2" long, reddish brown. 



22 J. tenuis Willd. St. scape-like, slender, erect; lvs. subradical, linear-seta- 

 ceous, shorter than tho stem; bracts 2 — 3, much longer than the panicle; fls. 

 single, approximate, green; sep. acuminate, longer than the subglobous-triangular 

 capsule. — A very common rush, about foot-paths and roadsides, and in fields and 

 meadows, U. S. and Can. Stems why, 6 — 24' high. Leaves very narrow, 3 — S' 

 long. Panicle subfasciculate, 5 — 10-flowered, varying to subumbellato and 20 — 

 30-llowered, tho rays very unequal. Jn., Jl. 



J3. DicnoTOiius. Panicle regularly forked onco or twice, branches erect, in- 

 curved, with tho contiguous lis. regularly distychous ; sep. scarcely longer 

 than tho capsule. — Waysides, Somerville, Mass., also South. (J. dichotomua 

 Ell.) 



23 J. bulbosus L. /?. Gerardi. St. very slender, compressed; lvs. mostly 

 radical, linear-setaceous, shorter than the stem ; panicle small, few-flowered, sub- 

 trichotomous, longer than tho bracts ; fls. separate, approximate by pairs or 3s, 

 dark-colored : sep. equal, acute, incurved, rather shorter than the subglobous, obtuse, 

 caps. — A common rush, in salt marshes, N. J. to the Are. Sea, usually with dark 

 green loliagc and brown capsules. Sts. not bulbous, tufted, erect, or decumbent 

 and stolonifcrous, 1 to 2f high, tough and wiry. Lvs. 3 to 8' long, bracts 6 to 

 12". Lis. 12 or more, at length brown or blackish. Jl., Aug. — It makes good 

 hay. 



Order CLII. COMMELYNACE^E. Spiderworts. 



H'Tbs with flat, narrow leaves which arc usually sheathing at base. Perianth of 

 2 series, the outer of 3 herbaceous sepals, the inner of 3 colored petals. Siameni 

 6, somo of them usually deformed or abortive, hypogynous. Ovary 2 to 3-celled, 

 cells few-ovuled. Style and stigma united into one. Caysule 2 to 3-celled, 2 to 3- 

 valved ; cells often but 2-seedcd, with loculicidal dehiscence. Seeds few, with dense, 

 fleshy albumen. Embryo opposite the hilum. Figs. 5S-4, 592. 



Genera 1G, specie* 260, chiefly natives of the Indies, Australia and Africa, a few N. Amoricjv 

 They are of little importance to man. The anomalous genus, Mayaca, constitutes an order by 

 itself in Kuntli. 



GENERA. 



5 Flowers irregular, clustered in a spathe-like, cordate, floral leaf Commf.lyna. t 



§ Flowers regular, clustered ; floral leaves like the rest. Stamens C Tt.adkscantia. 3 



J Flowers regular, solitary, axillary stamens 3. Moss-like herbs Mayaca. 3 



1. COMMELY'NA, Dill. (In honor of the brothers Commchjn, Ger- 

 man botanists.) Pis. irregular ; sepals herbaceous, petals colored ; 

 stamens G, 3 of them sterile and furnished with cruciform glands for 

 anthers ; capsule 3-celled, 3-valved, one of the valves abortive. — Lvs. 

 lance-linear with sheaths at base. Fls. enfolded in a conduplicate, per- 

 sistent, spatbaceous, cordate bract, erect in flower, recurved before and 

 after. Petals blue, open but a few hours. 



* Prostrate spathe opposite tho leaves, complicate, base-lobes free Kos. 1, t 



* Krect or a>ccnding. Spathe subterminal, — complicate, subpeltate N<>. 3 



— cucullate-peltate Nos. 4, 5 



1 C. coniinunis L. Procumbent, much branched ; branchlets marked with a hairy 

 line; lvs. sessile, ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, rounded at base, margin finely serru- 



