on the Genus Juncus of Linnceus. 297 



descriptions in needless obscurity ; and especially since no dif- 

 ference of organization is apparent among any of these species. 

 Why the panicle of J. maritimus should be described as terminal, 

 and that of conglomcratus as lateral, is irreconcileable with aiiv 

 theory of inflorescence which the Linnean terms countenance. If 

 the elongation beyond the panicle be an involucral leaf in the one, 

 it ought to hold good in the whole of the leafless subdivision. 

 The more consistent and more natural method seems to be, to 

 describe the panicle as lateral, where a similar structure of the 

 stem is continued above the panicle as exists below it; and to 

 denominate the spinous support at the base a bracte. Its ana- 

 logy to a similar production in J. bulbosus, Linn., squarrosus, tri- 

 Jldiis, and many of the Scirpi and Eriophora, where the support is 

 indisputably called a bracte, justifies the opinion. The mem- 

 branous scales at the base of the flowers are for convenience 

 called flower-scales. 



Specimens of the plants* here described accompany this Me- 

 moir. 



JUNCUS. 

 Rush. 



Cal. hexaphyllus. Cor. nulla. Caps, supera, trivalvis, trilocula- 

 ris : loculamenta polysperma. 



* Culmo nudo. 



1. JuNCUS ACUTUS. 



Juncus culmo nudo pungente, paniculalaterali, bractea spinosA, 

 capsulis mucronatis subrotundis calyce duplo longioribus. 



J. culmo nudo, panicula terminali, involucro diphyllo spinoso, 



capsula subrotunda acuta, petalis duplo longiore. Rosthov 



Monograph. 14. 



* These are deposited in the Museum of the Linnean Society. 



J. culmo 



