210 JUNCACE^. Juncus. 



(about 2 lines long), usually dark brown, in few many-flowered heads : perianth- 

 segments narrowly acuminate : style long and stigmas exserted : capsule acute : seeds 

 ovate, comparatively large. 



Var. paniculatus, Engelm. 1. c. Heads more numerous, few-flowered, in a com- 

 pound panicle : stems 1 to 3 feet high, from a stout rootstock. 



The typical form near the coast, from Mendocino County to Santa Barbara ; the variety in the 

 lower Sacramento Valley and also in the Sierra Nevada (near Big Trees, Bolander). 



26. J. chlorocephalus, Engelm. 1. c. 485. Stems low and slender (8 to 15 

 inches high) from a slender rootstock, not ancipital : leaves very narrow (a line 

 wide or less), the sheaths with ligules : heads one or two, many-flowered : perianth 

 pale and scarious, the segments 2 lines long, very obtuse or acute : anthers as in the 

 last species. 



In the Sierra Nevada, at 4,000 to 10,000 feet altitude ; mature seeds not known. Very like the 

 form of J. Nevadensis with few heads, except in the pale scarious and more obtuse segments of the 

 perianth. 



27. J. Mertensianus, Meyer. Stems weak, from slender matted rootstocks, 6 

 to 18 inches high, not ancipital ; leaves very narrow (a line wide or less), the sheaths 

 with ligules : heads solitary, densely many-flowered, dark brown : perianth nearly 2 

 lines long, the lanceolate narrowly acuminate segments equalling the obtuse obovate 

 capsule : anthers equalling or shorter than the tilaments : seeds as in J. xiphioides. 

 Veg. Sitch. 167; Engelm. 1. c. 479. 



From Alaska southward in the mountains to California and Colorado ; on the eastern slope of 

 Mono Pass, at 9,000 to 10,000 feet altitude, Bolander. 



ORDER CXVII. PALM-SI. 



Perennial woody plants, mostly tall, with a terminal crown of large pinnately 

 divided or flabelliform petiolate leaves sheathing the stem, and small usually diclinous 

 and sessile flowers upon a simple or branched axillary spadix, which is at first 

 usually enveloped in a monophyllous deciduous spathe ; perianth inferior, persistent, 

 coriaceous, of 6 segments in two series, the outer imbricate or united and cup-like, 

 the inner mostly valvate ; stamens 6 (or 3), hypogynous or perigynous, included ; 

 ovary 3-celled or of 3 distinct carpels, two of the cells or carpels often abortive ; ovules 

 1 or 2 in each cell ; stigmas short and thick, usually sessile ; fruit a drupe or berry, 

 with an often thick spongy, fleshy, or fibrous exocarp, and membranous, crustaceous 

 or bony endocarp ; seed with abundant cartilaginous or horny albumen, and a small 

 embryo in a small basal or dorsal cavity. 



A noble order of nearly 100 genera and over 1,000 species, confined almost exclusively to the 

 tropics and the hottest portion of the temperate zone, and sparingly represented within the limits 

 of the United States. Four species are found on the Atlantic coast, reaching as far north as lat. 

 33, and a single species attains a like latitude on the western side. In the wanner regions of 

 Mexico the species are more numerous. Scarcely any order is more remarkable for the useful 

 purposes which its various products are made to subserve. The fruit, foliage, and timber, the 

 fibrous tissue, the starchy pith, and the fermentable or medicinal sap are brought into use in 

 manifold ways, and are sufficient of themselves to supply all the wants of a primitive population. 

 No tree of the tropics is more ornamental in cultivation. The United States genera all belong to 

 the group Coryphince or Sabalince, distinguished by their fan-shaped leaves and perfect flowers. 



1. Washingtonia. Leaves flabelliform, copiously filiferous ; petiole armed and with the ligule 



glabrous. Spathes and spadix glabrous. Berry small, oblong-ovate, bearing the abor- 

 tive carpels at its summit. Albumen entire. 



2. Erythea. Leaves flabelliform, sparingly filiferous ; petiole armed or unarmed, somewhat 



pubescent ; ligule tomentose. Spathes and spadix tomentose. Berry larger, globose ; 

 abortive carpels at its base. Albumen deeply pitted on the ventral side. 



