312 Mr. J. E. BiciiENo's Observations 



Angl. Toad Rush. Toad Grass. Rush Grass. 

 Habitat in huinidis et aquosis. 

 Ann. June, July, August. 



Koot fibrous. Stems from an inch to a foot high, numerous, di- 

 chotomous, upright, cyHndrical, smooth, striated, leafy. Leaves 

 linear, channelled, acute, dilated at the base, not jointed. 

 Flowers solitary, rarely in pairs, sessile, erect, growing in some- 

 ■\vhat of a spike on the terminating branches. Calyx-lenjiets se- 

 taceous, acuminate, with the keel green and the remainder 

 scariose. Bractes ovate, scariose. Capsules elliptical, rather ob- 

 tuse, shorter by half than the calyx. Seeds very numerous. 



The solitary flowers and long silky calyx sufficiently mark the 

 character of this species. Like others of its congeners, it is occa- 

 sionally gemmiparous. It is subject to great variation in size, 

 owing to the soil in which it grows. Sometimes it may be ob' 

 served on a sandy coast not an inch high, with a capsule not 

 quite obtuse; at other times, in a richer soil, where water has stood 

 during the winter, it may be seen shooting into a long simple culm 

 exceeding a foot in height. The van /9 is thus described by Dil- 

 lenius : " Priori simili {i. e. the common one), sed multo minus, et 

 minus ramosum, coloris plerumque rubentis : florendi etiam tem- 

 pore differt, nam mensis et sesquimensis spatio illud antecedere 

 solet." I could never perceive that it was worth much attention. 

 The old botanists, from whom Linnajus adopted his trivial name, 

 imagined some affinity to exist between this species and the toad, 

 because this animal inhabits similar places. A seedling plant is 

 figured in Rose's Elements ofBotamj, Appendix, t. 2. f.5.A. and B. 



The Juncus gracilis, published in Etig. Bat. xxxi. 2174., has an 

 inflorescence and fructification the most like this, but that has 

 broader and emarginate valves to the fruit. 



11. Juncus 



