JUNCALES. 



JUNIPERUS. 



310 



Good Hope, and equinoctial America. 



5 1 



1, Triflochin paluitre ; 2, a flower magnified ; 3, a spike of ripe fruit ; 4, a 

 ripe capnule ; 5, a section of one of the cells of the capsule, with the seed 

 inclosed in it. 



Potamoyelon occurs in ditches and gwamps as far north as Iceland. 

 The root of Potamogeton natam is said to be eaten in Siberia ; the 

 foliage of others ia regarded as a styptic. There are 7 genera and 

 44 species. 



JUNCALES. [ESDOGENS.] 



JUNCUS, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order 

 Juncacece. This genus is distinguished by its inferior perianth, com- 

 posed of 6 glumaceous leaves; its 3-celled 3-valved capsules, the 

 seed-bearing dissepiments of the valves being in their middle. The 

 species are numerous, and are found mostly in moist boggy situations 

 in the colder parts of the world : several are however inhabitants of 

 tropical regions. 



J. tffusus, the Soft Rush, and /. conglomerate, the Common Rush, 

 are used in many parts of the country for plaiting into mats, chair- 

 bottoms, and for constructing small toy-baskets. The wicks also of 

 the candles known as rush-candles are made from the pith, or more 

 properly speaking the soft inner portion of the stem of the same 

 species, which is chiefly composed of cellular tissue. The species is 

 cultivated in Japan like rice entirely for making floor-mats. 



Rushes of various kinds form frequently very troublesome weeds 

 in agriculture. They grow best on rich land that is wet and cold. 

 They may be destroyed by covering them over with dry materials of 

 various kinds, as ashes, lime, and drift from roads ; but the best mode 

 of getting rid of them is to fork them up by the roots in the summer, 

 and after letting them lie for a fortnight or three weeks to dry to burn 

 them. This however will be found only a temporary mode of getting 

 rid of them unless the ground on which they grow is well drained. 



JUNGERMANNIA'CE-iE, Scale Motsei, a rather extensive natural 

 order of Cryptogamic Plants, or Acrogenc, resembling mosses in 

 appearance, but very distinct from them in many points of structure. 

 Their foliage is much more cellular; their seed-vessel, or theca, splits 

 into four valves, has no operculum, and instead of a central column 

 has a number of tubes, each furnished internally with a double elastic 

 spiral thread, and called an elater, to which the spores stick, and by 

 the aid of which they are supposed to be dispersed. The species 

 inhabit the trunks of trees, damp earth, or even the young shoots 

 and leaves of other plants in hot moist climates. Some have the stem 

 and leaf formed into a frond, or thallus, resembling that of a lichen, 

 but more commonly the species have leaves with stipules at their base. 

 A large number of genera has of late been formed out of the old 

 genus Junycrmannia, but the opinions of botanists are much divided 

 as to the value of these new divisions ; and they have not been 

 generally adopted. Hooker's 'Monograph of the British Junger- 

 mannia)' gives a valuable account of the species inhabiting these 

 islands. A more recent account of the whole European genus is to 

 be found in Nees von Esenbeck's ' Naturgeschiohte der Europaischeu 

 Lebermoose,' 2 vols., 8vo., with plates. 



The following is a synopsis of the genera : 



Sub-order Junyermannea. 

 Metzgeridce. Haplolacnidai. 



Mctzr/eria. liliuia. 



Ancui'iil". Symphyogyna. 



Triclutitylium. Pellia. 



Aneura. Diplomilrida. 



1 



Jiingermannia nenwrvsa, highly magnified. 



1, a branch in fruit ; 2, a leaf, with sori upon it ; 3, the contents of thoao 

 sori ; 4, the calyptra, before it is burst by the theca ; 5, abortive theca 1 , in a 

 very young state ; C, elaters. 



JUNIPER. [JUNIPEBUS.] 



JUNI'PERUS, a genus of hardy evergreen woody Plants, belong- 

 ing to the natural order Coniferce. Its distinctive character consists 

 in its female fructification being succulent, consolidated, and reduced in 

 the number of its parts below what is usual in the order to which 

 the genus belongs. Like other C'oniferce, its fruit is composed of 

 scales representing carpels spread open, and collected in a spiral 

 manner round a common axis. But they are not more than six in 

 number, generally three, and when ripe are fleshy, and consolidated 

 into a body resembling a drupe. In the language of the Pharmaco- 

 poeia they are berries, in that of botanists they are termed Galbuli. 



About 20 species are known, the most important of which are the 

 following : 



/. communin, the Common Juniper. This is a common bush, 

 with long narrow sharp-pointed leaves, which are concave and 

 glaucous on the upper side, but convex and green on their under, 

 and with blackish fruit. It grows wild in all the northern parts of 

 Europe, and, as is said, in North America also and the north of India, 

 but it is doubtful whether the plants called Juniper by travellers in 



