542 JUNCACE^.. (rush family.) 



acute at both ends, ribbcd-rcticulatcd. (J. pallcscens, E. ^feyer, as to the N. 

 American plant.) — Earlier than other species which arc likely to be con- 

 founded with it: May, June. — A very variable plant, the following forms of 

 which have the appearance of distinct species, but are connected by various 

 intermediate states. 



Var. d6bilis. Stems slender (9'- 18' hi^^h) ; heads green, 3 - 6-flowered in a 

 loose panicle ; flowers smaller ( 1.1"- 1^" long) ; pod longer than the sepals. (J. 

 debilis, Grai/, in former editions.) —Wet sandy soil, New Jersey to Kentucky 

 and southward. — Stems sometimes decumbent and rooting. 



Var. roblistUS. Stems stout, tall, (20-4° high), bearing numerous 5-8- 

 flowered light-brown lieads in a large much-branched panicle; flowers small 

 (1"-H" lo"?) ; ovoid pod scarcely longer than the sepals. — Deep swamps in 

 the Mississippi Valley, from Illinois southward. 



Var. legitimus. Stems slender {1° -2° long), bearing fewer and larger 

 heads in a very loose spreading panicle; flowers 5-12 and often more in a 

 head (H"-2" long); sepals as long as the straw-colored or light-brown pod. 

 (J. acumniatus, Michx. J. paradoxus, E. Meyer. J. fratcrnus, Kunt/i. J. siib- 

 verticillatus, Muhl. J. Pondii, Wood.) — Conunon in wet places from S. New 

 England southward and westward. — Heads often proliferous in the autumn. 

 ■(-■!--•- Heads Jew, crowded, of numerous Jlowers. 

 ■>-* Stamens 6. 



22. J. nodosus, L. Stem erect (6' -15' high), slender from a creeping 

 thread-like and tuber-bearing rootstock, mostly -with 2 or 3 slender leaves; 

 heads few or several, rarely single, 8-20-flowered (3|^"-4" wide), overtopped 

 by the involucral leaf; flowers brown (l^"-2" long) ; sepals liincc-lincar, awl- 

 pointed (the 3 outer mostly a little shorter), nearly as long as the slender trian- 

 gular taper-pointed 1-cclled pod ; anthers oblong, shorter than the filament ; style 

 very short; seeds (about -4" long) obovate, abruptly mucronate. (J. Rostkovii, 

 E. Meyer.) — Swamps and gravelly banks, fi-om New England and Pennsylvania 

 north and northwestward. July, Aug. — A very tail form (2° high) occurs on 

 the islands above Niagara, G. W. Clinton. 



Var. megacephalus, Torr. Stem stout (l°-3° high), with thick leaves; 

 heads few and large (6"- 8" wide) 30 - 80-flowercd ; flowers pale green (2,',"- 

 2^" long) ; outer sepals longer than the inner ones ; anthers linear, shorter than 

 the filaments. — From Western New York west and southwestward. Aug. — 

 An intermediate form, with numerous green heads in a compound panicle, occurs 

 in Michigan and Northern Illinois. 



•*-+ ++ Stamens 3. 



23. J, brachycarpus, Engelm. Stem erect (l°-2i° high), rigid from 

 a thick white horizontal rootstock, bearing about 2 leaves and 2-10 densely 

 flowered spherical heads (4" - 5" wide) in a slightly spreading crowded panicle 

 much exceeding the involucral leaf; flowers pale green (2" long) ; sepals lance- 

 linear, awl-pointed, the 3 outer much longer, and the ovoid pointed 1 -celled pod 

 rather shorter, than the inner sepals; anthers much shorter than filaments; 

 style very short; seeds (\" long) abru])tly apicidate, ribbed-rctieulated. — Moist 

 places in open woods and prairies, Ohio to Michigan, Illinois and southward 

 May, June. 



