RUSH TRIBE 9 
little branched, spreading ; capsule blunt, scarcely as long as the perianth ; 
leaves lanceolate, hairy ; rootstock short, tufted, with slender runners. This 
is a smaller species than the last, and readily distinguished from it by its 
_ dark brown flowers, growing singly on the partial flower-stalks, instead of 
being in little bundles. The stem is about a foot high, and the leaves are 
ribbed, and fringed with long fine white hairs. It flowers in April and May, 
and may be found in shady places, pretty well throughout the British Isles. 
Also known as L. vernalis. 
3. Narrow-leaved Hairy Wood Rush (L. forstéri).—Panicle cymose, 
erect ; partial stalks single flowered ; capsule pointed, nearly as long as the 
perianth ; leaves linear, hairy. This plant, though resembling the last in habit, 
is much slenderer, and has narrower leaves. It is about a foot high, and bears 
its brown flowers in April and May. It is a somewhat local plant, inhabiting 
woods and thickets, but is common in some parts of the kingdom where the 
soil is chalky or gravelly. Its distribution here is bounded by lines drawn 
from South Wales to Cornwall and Oxford, Essex to Oxford and Kent. It also 
occurs in the Channel Islands. A plant which is by some botanists regarded 
as a species, and by others as a hybrid, has been by Dr. Bromfield termed 
L. borrert. It is larger, and has a loose panicle, the upper stalks of which 
turn back after flowering ; the filaments are also shorter. It occurs in the 
Isle of Wight, Sussex, and Herefordshire, as well as in Wicklow. Its short 
acute capsule does not ripen the seeds. 
4, Field Wood Rush (L. campestris).—Panicle of a few dense clusters ; 
segments of the perianth pointed, longer than the capsule ; capsule inversely 
egg-shaped, blunt, with a small point ; rootstock creeping, tufted. This is a 
common plant in dry pastures, bearing its dark reddish-brown flowers in 
_ oblong spikes during April and May. It has a straight unbranched stem, 
from three to ten inches high, and dark green leaves, very hairy at the 
margin. A taller variety of this plant, in which the spikes are almost all 
sessile, and collected into a nearly round head, is the var. erecta. 
5, Curved Mountain Wood Rush (JL. arcudtw).—Panicle somewhat 
umbellate, of few heads, with long, drooping curved branches ; bracts mem- 
branous, fringed; capsule roundish and pointed, shorter than the bristle- 
pointed segments of the perianth ; leaves channelled, slightly hairy ; rootstock 
creeping, and forming loose tufts, with slender runners. This is the smallest 
and one of the rarest of our native species, its slender stem varying from 
two to four inches in height. The leaves are leathery, short, narrow, and 
curved ; those from the roots numerous. The dark chestnut flowers appear 
in July. It is found on the highest summits of the Cairngorm and Suther- 
land mountains. 
6. Spiked Wood Rush ( L. spicita).—Spike oblong, dense, compound 
and nodding, the clusters shorter than their bracts ; segments of the perianth 
narrow, and bristle-pointed, as long as the capsule; capsule acute; leaves 
small, leathery, slightly channelled, and hairy; rootstock densely tufted. 
This is a mountain species, growing in North Wales, Westmoreland and 
Scotland, at altitudes between 1,000 and 4,300 feet. It bears, in July, its 
nodding spike of dark brown flowers on a slender stem six or eight inches 
high. Its short narrow leaves are hairy at the margins of their sheaths. 
Ivy. —2 
