JL'NCACEJE. (RUSH FAMILY.) 481 



4. J". SCtficeilS, Rostk. Scape slender (2 -3 high) ; panicle loose, rather 

 simple, turning light chestnut-color ; sepals lanceolate, sharp-pointed, especially 

 the 3 exterior, longer than the obovate mucronate-pointed pod. Penn., Vir- 

 ginia, and southward, near the coast. 



5. J. ISlcirttiBfims, Lam. Scape stout and rigid (2 -5 high), the apex 

 pungent; panicle compound, erect, loose; the flowers clustered in small heads; 

 sepals lanceolate, the- outer acute, as long as the elliptical short-pointed pod. 

 (J. acutus, MuhL, c.) Brackish marshes, New Jersey (Pursh), Virginia, and 

 southward. (Eu.) 



* * * Stems lea f -bear ing : leaves terete, or flattened laterally (equitant), knotted by 

 cross partitions internally : ct/tne or panicle terminal: flowers in heads or small clus- 

 ters (very liable to a monstrosity, from the bite of insects making them appear as 

 if viviparous) : pod more or less I -celled. 



i Stamens 3. 



6. J. scirpoides, Lam. Stem stout (l-3 high) and terete, as are the 

 leaves; panicle rather simple, bearing several (5-18) pale green densely many-flow- 

 ered spherical heads; sepals rigid, awl-shaped and bristly-pointed, especially the 

 outer, as long as the oblong triangular taper-pointed pod ; seeds barely pointed 

 at each end, tail/ess. (J. polycephalus, Michx. (excl. var. a 1 ?). J. echinatus, 

 MuhL J. nodosus, var. multiflorus, Torr.) Wet borders of streams, &c. ; 

 rather common. Rootstock thickish, creeping. Remarkable for its bur-like 

 green heads, usually ' in diameter. 



7. J. paracloXUS, E. Meyer. Stem rather stout (l-2^ high), terete; 

 leaves terete or somewhat flattened ; panicle decompound ; the numerous greenish 

 heads globular, many- (8 - 15-) flowered ; sepals lanceolate, somewhat a\vl-pointed, 

 rigid, shorter than the oblong-triangular abruptly short-pointed pod ; seeds con- 

 spictiousty tailed at both ends ! ( J. polyccphalus, Darlinrjt., Torr. Fl. N. Y. excl. 

 var. 3, & syn. J. fratcrnus, Kunth. J. sylvaticus, Pursh.) Wet places ; com- 

 mon. Heads less dense, fewer-flowered, and sometimes smaller, than in the 

 foregoing. Remarkable for the loose white seed-coat prolonged at both ends 

 into a tail longer than the oblong body of the seed. 



8. J. dcbiiiS. Stems weak and slender (l-2 long), flattened, as are the 

 slender leaves ; panicle decompound, loose, widely spreading ; the numerous pale green 

 heads 4-8-flowered; sepals lanceolate, acute, herbaceous, shorter than the oblong 

 pod ; seeds tailless, minutely and barely pointed at each end. (J. subverticilla- 

 tus, Miild., not of Wulf. J. pallcscens, Meyer, as to N. American plant. J. 

 polycephalus, var. "? depauperatu.s, Torr. Fl. N. Y.) Wet swamps; common, 

 especially southward and westward. Roots fibrous. Stems often decumbent 

 or floating and rooting : branches of the cymose panicle slender and diverging. 

 Heads 2'' long. Pods pale, sometimes twice the length of the calyx when ripe 

 This, which is pretty clearly the J. acuminatus of Kunth, is perhaps the plant 

 of Michaux ; but the next is the species taken for J. acuminatus by American 

 authors. 



9. J. stcnininfUllS, Michx. Stem erect (10' -15' high), terete, leaves 

 slender, nearly terete ; panicle with rather slightly spreading branches, bearing few or 

 ma.-iy 3 - S-flou^rred chestnut-colored heads : sepals lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, 



41 



