JUNCACEAE ool 



EFFUSED JUNCUS. Common Rush. Soft Rush. 



Rhizomas matted. Stems 2 to 3 feet high, simple, acute at summit, cespitose, 

 forming tussocks. Panicle cymose, bursting from a fissure in the side of the stem, 

 above the middle, sessile, often proliferous; bracts lance-oblong, acuminate, 

 scarious. 

 Hob. Moist low grounds : common. Fl. June. Fr. August. 



Obs. This species, if neglected, is apt to prevail to a pernicious 

 extent, in wet meadows, and low grounds, forming unsightly and 

 unprofitable bunches, called Tussocks. 



g 2. Stems leafy; panicle terminal* f Flowers in heads. 

 * Leaves sublerete, nodose; stamens mostly 3. 



2. J. paratl oxus, E- Meyer. Stem rather stout ; heads globose, 

 8- to 15-flowered ; seeds conspicuously tailed at both ends. 



J. polycephalus. Fl. Cestr. ed. 2. p. 228. not of MX. 

 PARADOXICAL JUNCUS. Button Rush. 



Stem 1 to 2 feet high, fistular, about 2-leaved. Leaves 3 to 6 inches long, often 

 compressed and ensiform. Panicle, with 1 or 2 elongated branches. Heads 3 to 12 

 or 15 (usually 5 to 9), about % of an inch in diameter, densely flowered, pedun- 

 culate, or sessile, with lanceolate acuminate bracts at base. 

 Hob. Low, swampy grounds : frequent. Fl. July. Fr. Septem. 



Obs. I am doubtful about the J. subverticillatus, of the 2nd edition ; 

 and therefore think it best to omit it. 



3. J, acuiiiiiiatus, MX. Stem rather slender, terete, pliable ; 

 panicle subcorymbose ; heads 3- to 6-flowered ; seeds with a short 

 tail at each end, 



ACUMINATE JUNCUS. 



/Stem 12 to 18 inches high , fistular, cespitose. Leaves 2 to 6 or 8 inches long, 

 terete, tapering to a point, fistular, indistinctly nodose-articulate. Panicle rather 

 erect, generally with one principal branch overtopping the rest. Heads chesnut- 

 colored. Capsules triquetrous-oblong, with a short acumination. 

 Hab. Meadows, and moist low grounds : frequent. Fl. June. Fr. Aug. 



Obs. The heads of this species are subject to a kind of monstrosity, 

 or disease, which gives them the appearance of being proliferous. 



* * Le&vesflat and grass-like ; stamens 3. 



4. J. marginatus, Rostkow. Stem compressed, nodose ; heads 

 3- to 6-flowered; inner perianth-lobes obtuse, margined; seeds 

 acute at each end. 



MARGINED JUNCUS. 



Stem 1 to 2 or 3 feet high, filled with pith. Leaves 4 to 12 or 15 inches long, 

 the radical ones mostly shorter than those on the stem. Panicle often proliferous 

 and elongated (2 to 5 inches in length), mostly longer than the erect involucre at 

 base. Heads pedunculate, or subsessile in the forks of the branches. Capsule 

 obtusely trigoncus-obovoid, often dark purple. 

 Hab. Moist, low grounds; borders of woods: frequent. Fl. June. Fr. Aug. 



ft Flowers separate; leaves narrow, channelled, or involute ; stamens 6. 



5. J. tennis, Willd. Stem slender and wiry, leafy only near the 

 base ; two of the involucral leaves longer than the cyme. 



