540 JUNCACE^E. (RUSH FAMILY.) 



1. JUNG US, Tourn. RUSH. BOG-RUSH. 



Capsule many-seeded, 3-celled, or 1 -celled by the placentas not reaching the 

 axis. Stamens when 3 opposite the 3 outer sepals. Chiefly perennials, and 

 in wet soil or water, with pithy or hollow and simple (rarely branching) stems, 

 and panicled or clustered small (greenish or brownish) flowers, chiefly in sum- 

 mer. Plant never hairy. (The classical name, from jungo, to join, alluding 

 to the use of the stems for bands.) 



1. Stems leafless and scape-like, from matted running rootstocks, sheathed at 

 base; the sheaths sometimes bearing terete knotless leaves like the scape; 

 flowers in sessile apparently lateral panicles, the involucral leaf being similar 

 to and continuing the scape. JUNCUS proper. 



* Flowers solitary on the pedicels or ultimate ramifications of the panicle. 



i- Sheaths at base of the stem leafless. 



H- Stamens 3. 



1. J. effilSUS, L. (COMMON or SOFT RUSH.) Scape soft and pliant (2 - 

 4 high) ; inner sheaths awned ; panicle diffusely much branched, many-flow- 

 ered ; flowers small (1^" long), greenish ; sepals lanceolate, very acute, as long 

 as the narrow triangular-obovate retuse and pointless greenish-brown capsule ; 

 anthers as long as the filaments ; style very short ; seeds small (about " 

 long), with short pale points. Marshy ground, very common. (Eu.) Var. 

 coNGLOMKK\rrs, Engelm. Scape more distinctly striate; panicle closely 

 crowded; capsule short-pointed. In sphagnous swamps. 



++ +* Stamens 6. 



2. J. filiformis, L. Scape very slender (1-2 high), pliant ; panicle few- 

 flowered, almost simple ; flowers 1|" long; sepals lanceolate, the inner a little 

 shorter and less acute, longer than the broadly ovate obtuse but mucronate 

 greenish capsule ; anthers shorter than the filaments ; style very short ; seed 

 (less than f " long) short-pointed at both ends, indistinctly reticulated. N. 

 Eng. to Mich., Neb., and northward. (Eu.) 



3. J. Sm.ith.ii, Engelm. Scape rather slender (2-3 high) ; panicle few- 

 flowered, nearly simple ; flowers brown (!" long); outer sepals lanceolate, 

 acute, the inner a little shorter, obtusish, shorter than the broadly ovate rather 

 triangular acute deep chestnut-brown capsule ; anthers as long as the filaments ; 

 style short; seeds large (J" long or more), obtuse, short-appendaged at botli 

 ends, many-ribbed and reticulated. Sphaguous swamps, on Broad Mt. and 

 in Lebanon Co., Penn. 



4. J. Balticus, Dethard, var. littoralis, Engelm. Scape rigid (2-3 

 high); panicle loose; flowers larger (2" long), chestnut-brown with green; 

 sepals ovate-lanceolate, the outer sharp-pointed, the inner obtusish, as long as 

 the elliptical rather triangular obtuse and mucronate deep brown capsule ; an- 

 thers much longer than the broad filaments ; style about the length of the 

 ovary; seeds rather large (\" long or more), nearly obtuse, delicately ribbed 

 and cross-lined. Sandy shores, Newf. to Mass., west to Penn., along the 

 Great Lakes, and westward. Var. MONTANUS, Eugelm. Sepals nearly equal ; 

 anthers 4 times longer than the filament; capsule ovate-pyramidal, angled, 

 beaked ; seeds smaller, narrower, apiculate. Minn., west and northward. 



