392 CLXII. JUNCACE^. (J. D. Hooker.) 



OiiDEK, CLXII. JUNCACEJE. 



Erect, rarely annual herbs ; stems tufted or with a creeping rootstock. 

 Leaves flat, terete, or reduced to sheaths. Flowers in axillary or terminal 

 cymes, 2 sexual, bracteate, green, or whitish and membranous, or brown 

 and coriaceous. Perianth inferior, segments 6 in two series, persistent, 

 imbricate. Stamens 6, rarely 3, hypogynous or on the bases of the seg- 

 ments ; anthers basifixed. Ovary 1- or 3-celled, style filiform or short, or 0, 

 stigmas 3, filiform ; ovules 3 basilar in the 1-celled ovary, or many in the 

 inner angles of the 3-celled, anatropous. Capsule 1-3-celled, loculicidally 

 3-valved. Seeds erect, testa membranous, often produced at each end ; 

 albumen dense; embryo small, next the hilum. Genera 14; species 

 about 200. 



Ovary many-ovuled 1. JuNCtrs. 



Ovary 1-celled 3-ovulcd 2. LUZULA. 



1. JUNCUS, Linn. 



Glabrous herbs. Perianth with the 3 outer segments keeled or the 

 midrib thickened. Stamens 6, rarely 3. Ovary 3- rarely 1-celled, ovules 

 many. Species about 150, temperate and arctic, rarely tropical. 



Sect. I. Annual. Stem copiously branched. Leaves not septate. 

 Cymes scatteroil, fcw-fld. 



1. J. bufoniuS; Linn. Sp. PI. 466; blender much dichotomously 

 branched from the base upwards, cymes numerous, flowers pale green 

 solitary or clustered, sepals and petals unequal. Kunth Enum. iii. 353 ; 

 Reichb. Ic. Fl. Germ. t. 395 ; RoyU III. 401 ; Wall. Cat. 8997 ; Boiss. Fl. 

 Orient, v. 361 ; Buclien. in JEngl. Sot. Jahrl. xii. 174. 



NORTHERN INDIA ; from the plains to 13,000 ft. in the Himalaya, but local.- 

 DISTEIB. N. temp, regions. 



Densely clustered, 1-12 in. high, erect or ascending, pale green. Leaves few, 

 setaceous, channelled above, sheaths pale. Cymes scattered on the stem, branches 

 short or long, often flexuous ; bracts scarious ; flowers i- in. long, lateral open 

 6-androus, terminal closed 3-androus; sepals and petals lanceolate, long acuminate 

 and with broad membranous margins. Stamens half as long as the sepals. Capsule 

 shorter than and closely embraced by the perianth, obovoid, obtuse, mucronate, pale. 

 Seeds very minute, finely reticulate, tips nearly rounded. 



Sect. II. Perennial. Rhizome stout, tufted and creeping. Stems tall, 

 terete, produced beyond the decompound cyme and then erect and pun- 

 gent ; bases closed with rigid leafless sheaths. Leaves 0, or terete like the 

 stem. Flowers usually distinctly pedicelled. 



2. J. eflfusns, Linn. Sp. PI. 326; stems soft, pith , continuous, sepals 

 lanceolate exceeding the obovoid retuse capsule, stamens usually 3, seeds 

 not tailed at the ends. Reiclib. Ic. Fl. Germ.t. 920 ; Boiss. Fl. Orient, v. 

 352 ; Buchen. in Engl. Bot. Jalirb. vi. 199 ; xii. 228. J. communis, E. Hey. 

 June. 12 ; Kunth Enum. iii. 320. 



SIKKIM HIMALAYA, alt. 6-10,000 ft. KHASIA HILLS, alt. 5-5500 ft. DISTEIB. 

 Europe, N. Asia, Africa, America, and Australia. 



Usually forming circular densely matted tufts of pale green finely striate stems, 

 1-3 ft. high, and |-|- in. diam. ; spathes nil leafless. Cymes most variable, effuse 

 lax and pendulous with slender branches and dista^ iwers, or globose sessile and 



