726 OKDHK 152. COMMELYNACEJE. 



countries. Sts. many, 3 to 8' long. Lvs. few, 1 to 2' long. Fls. many, secund. 

 Jn. Aug. 



21 J. Greeiiii Oakos & Tuckm. Scape tall, subtereto, striato ; Ivs. filiform-seta- 

 ceous, subterete, scarcely channeled, shorter than the scape, with sheathing base ; 

 panicle dense, branches suberect ; bracts setaceous, one of them much longer than 

 the panicle ; fls. single, approximate ; sep. ovate, acute, twice shorter than the tri- 

 angular-acute, shining caps. Wet grounds, R. I., Mass. (Ricard). A handsome 

 rush, 1 to 2f high, rigid, strict. Lvs. all radical. Panicle 2 to 3' long, one of the. 

 bracts twice longer, the other twice- shorter. Caps. 2" long, reddish brown. 



22 J. tenuis "\V~illd. St. scape-like, slender, erect; Ivs. subradical, linear-seta- 

 ceous, shorter than the stem ; bracts 2 3, much longer than the panicle ; fls. 

 single, approximate, green; sep. acuminate, longer than the subglobous-triangular 

 capsule. A very common rush, about foot-paths and roadsides, and in fields and 

 meadows, U. S. and Can. Stems why, 6 24' high. Leaves very narrow, 3 8' 

 long. Panicle subfasciculate, 5 10-flowered, varying to subumbellate and 20 

 30-flowered, the rays very unequal. Jn., Jl. 



B. DICHOTOMUS. Panicle regularly forked once or twice, branches erect, in- 

 curved, with the contiguous fls. regularly distychous ; sep. scarcely longer 

 than the capsule. Waysides, Somerville, Mass., also South. (J. dichotomus 

 Ell.) 



23 J. bulbosus L. (3. GERARDI. St. very slender, compressed; Ivs. mostly 

 radical, linear-setaceous, shorter than the stem ; panicle small, few-llowered, sub- 

 trichotomous, longer than the bracts ; fls. separate, approximate by pairs or 3s, 

 dark-colored : sep. equal, acute, incurved, rather shorter than the subglobous, obtuse, 

 caps. A common rush, in salt marshes, N. J. to the Arc. Sea, usually with dark 

 green foliage and brown capsules. Sts. not bulbous, tufted, erect, or decumbent 

 and stoloniferous, 1 to 2f high, tough and wiry. Lvs. 3 to 8' long, bracts 6 to 

 12". Fls. 12 or more, at length brown or blackish. Jl., Aug. It makes good 

 hay. 



ORDER CLII. COMMELYNACE^E. SPIDERWORTS. 



Herbs with flat, narrow leaves which are usually sheathing at base. Perianth of 

 2 series, the outer of 3 herbaceous sepals, the inner of 3 colored petals. Stamens 

 G, some of them usually deformed or abortive, hypogynous. Ovary 2 to 3-celled, 

 cells few-ovuled. Style and stigma united into one. Capsule 2 to 3-celled, 2 to 3- 

 valved ; cells often but 2-seeded, with loculicidal dehiscence. Seeds few, with dense, 

 fleshy albumen. Embryo opposite the hilum. Figs. 584^ 592. 



Genera 16, species 260, chiefly natives of the Indies, Australia and Africa, a few N. America- 

 They are of little importance to man. The anomalous genus, Mayaca, constitutes ail order by 

 itself in Kunth. 



GENERA. 



Flowers irregular, clustered in a spathe-like, cordate, floral leaf COMMELYNA. 1 



Flowers regular, clustered ; floral leaves like the rest. Stamens 6 TUADESCA^TIA. 2 



Flowers regular, solitary, axillary stamens 3. Moss-like herbs MAYACA. 3 



i. COMMELY'NA, Dill. (In honor of the brothers Commelyn, Ger- 

 man botanists.) Fls. irregular ; sepals herbaceous, petals colored ; 

 stamens 6, 3 of them sterile and furnished with cruciform glands for 

 anthers ; capsule 3-celled, 3-valved, one of the valves abortive. Lvs. 

 lance-linear with sheaths at base. Fls. enfolded in a conduplicate, per- 

 sistent, spathaceous, cordate bract, erect in ilower, recurved before and 

 after. Petals blue, open but a few hours. 



* Prostrate spnthe opposite the leaves, complicate, base-lobes free *s y os. 1, 2 



* Erect or ascending. Spathe subtcrminal, complicate, subpeltate No. 3 



cucullate-peltate Nos. 4, 5 



1 C. communis L. Procumbent, much branched ; branchlets marked with a hairy 

 line; Ivs. sessile, ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, rounded at base, margin finely serru- 



