408 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [Sess. 



JUNCUS TENUIS, WlLLD. ; ITS DISTRIBUTION IN THE 



British Isles. By Arthur Bennett. A.L.S. 



(Read 14th January 1915.) 



J. tenuis, Willd., Sp., pi. ii, 214 (1799). 



J. gracilis, Smith, Comp. Fl. Brit., 55 (1800). 



J. macer, Gray, Nat. Ann. Brit. Plants, ii, 164 (1821). 



J. Gesneri, Smith, Eng. FL, ii, 164 (1824). 



J. Smithii, Kunth, Enum, pi. iii, 349 (1841). 



J. bicornis, Michx. ! Pink., t. 92, f. 9 (bonne) ex Lloyd. 

 Fl. Ouest Fr., ed. iv, 366 (1886); Eng. Bot., t. 2174 (1810) 

 " J. gracilis:' 



Its European distribution (Nyinan) is France, Belgium, 

 Holland, Germany, Bohemia, Jutland, Russia in South 

 and West. 



Kunze, Tasch., Fl. Leipz., 55 (1867) names it /. com- 

 2iressus x effusus, a combination that can scarcely apply to 

 our plant, as it produces seed in abundance. 



Leaving out of consideration Don's and Dickson's records 

 of the species, it was found by Mr. Towndrow in the parish 

 of Cradley, Herefordshire, in 1884. During the last thirty 

 years it has been recorded for twenty-two counties in 

 Scotland and England, and four in Ireland. 



As the species has retained its station in Renfrew from 

 1863 to 1889, and still grows there, it may be supposed to 

 be at least on the road to becoming naturalised. Although 

 some consider it may be native, as Mr. Kidston in Stirling 

 who wrote in 1889 : " On roadside, not in the grass edges, 

 but the sandy margins of road. I do not say there was not 

 a single specimen in the grass edges, but it distinctly seems 

 to grow only in open ground with a light sandy soil as is 

 found at the sides of our roads, where the soil is probably 

 made additionally light by the wear and tear of the trap 

 rocks with which the roads are ' metalled.' I shall try to 

 look into the whole matter : I do not believe the plant is 

 introduced." 



On the other hand, there are places where it has occurred 

 in which it is certainly introduced, and in 1897 (14) I 

 ventured to suggest it was introduced with American hay, 



