663 



adjoining Broxbourne Wood, ou the North), to look at Calamagrostis 

 Epigejos growing in the hedge. Here our attention was caught by a 

 tuft of rushes, which Mr. Coleman at once pronounced to be J. diffusus, 

 being acquainted with the plant by a previous discovery of it 

 near Cole-green, three miles West of Hertford, in the year 1844. Sin- 

 gularly enough we were unable to find any more in the pasture than 

 this one tuft, though it was overrun with other species of Juncus ; 

 but on emerging from this field on to a small scrap of roadside grass 

 called Darman's green (already known to us as one of the numerous 

 stations for Carex axillaris in this county), we were delighted to find 

 that there was as much of J. diffusus as J. glaucus, in the large crop of 

 rushes it produced. I observed that the two plants might be distin- 

 guished at a distance of several yards, even by the imperfect light we 

 then had, the sun having now set, by the dark hue which the large 

 black shining capsules gave to the panicle of J. glaucus, those of J. 

 diffusus being of a light brown, and far smaller. In the large series 

 of specimens which we gathered, we found no intermediate forms ; 

 but the species were always readily distinguishable by good and con- 

 stant characters; J. glaucus having constantly a fluted stem with 

 inten'upted pith, and an elliptic capsule about equal to the segments 

 of the perianth : while J. diffusus has a smooth stem with continuous 

 pith, and an obovate truncate capsule, shorter than the perianth. In 

 the truncate capsule it approaches nearer to J. effusus and J. con- 

 glomeratus : but in these the capsule equals the perianth and is nearly 

 as broad as long, not elongate as in our plant, and the scales at the base 

 of the stem are not, in Juncus diffusus, light-coloured and scarious 

 (as is the case in them), but dark brown and polished as in J. glaucus. 

 I enclose specimens for your satisfaction, and, if you think them 

 worth your acceptance, shall be happy to place in your hands a supply 

 for distribution among your friends and correspondents. 



John Ansell. 



P. S. An evening or two since I met with Amaranthus retroflexus, 

 Linn., ou waste ground near Hertford; it has also been found by Mr. 

 Wolsey near Sawbridgeworth, and seems as much entitled as some 

 others to a place in our floras. I find also Setaria viridis, and Panicum 

 Crus-galli in the same place. 



Hertford, Nurseries, 



September 16th, 1846. 



