202 



JUNCACE.i'l Lnr.ulu. 



A heterogeneous onler of a dozen genera or more, of whicli most are jjecnliar to Australia, the 

 two following tyiiical genera the most important, and chictly lontineJ to temiierate and arctic 

 regions. 



1. Luzula. Capsule 1 -celled, with 3 parietal 1-seeded plaeentie. Leaves Hat ami soft, often vil- 



lous. Stems hollow, leafy. In dry ground. 



2. Juncus. Capsule mostly 3-eelled, many-seeded. Leaves terete or Hat, not villous. Stems 



usually with spongy pith. In moist ground or water. 



1. LUZULA, DC. Wooij-KusH. 

 Stamens always 6. Capsule triangular-ovate, l-celled, with 3 erect seeds or often 

 1-seeded. — Perennial and grass-like, with hollow leafy slender and simple stems 

 and flat or somewhat carinate lax leaves, often villous ; flowers solitary in loose in- 

 volucrato umbels or panicles, or more or le-ss densely clustered or spicate ; floral 

 bracts small and scarious. Growing in dry woods or open grounds. 



A widely distributed genus of about 30 species, with rather obscure characters. A half-dozen 

 species are found in Nortli America, most of them belonging also to the Old World. 



* Pedicels l-Jiowered, in a loose compound cyme. 



1. L. spadicea, DC'. Glabrous or slightly villous: stems to 18 inches high 

 or more : leaves broad (2 to 5 lines) : inilurcscence lax and nodtling, much exceed- 

 ing the usually small involucral bracts : perianth straw-color or more or less tinged 

 with brown ; segments lanceolate, acuminate, about a line long, slightly shorter 

 than the acute apiculate capsule : anthers much exceeding tlie filaments : seed oblong, 

 brownisli, not ap[)endaged. — ]\Ieyer, Linniva, xxii. 391) ; Keichenb. Icon. Fl. (Jerm. 

 ix. t. 387. 



Var. parviflora, ^[eyer. Inflorescence often 3 to G inches long, with elongated 

 unequal ilrouping branches and slender jiedicels : flowers usually smaller : anthers 

 about equalling tlie filaments. — L. parvijlora, Desv. ; Kunth, Enum. iii. 300 ; 

 Iieichenb. 1. c, t. 388. 



Var. melanocarpa, IMeyer. Capsule dark brown ; otherwise as the preceding. 

 — L. melanomi-jni, Dusv. ; Kunth, 1. c. 299. L. jiarvijlora , var, mdanocarpa. Gray, 

 Manual, 53G. 



Var. subcongesta. Like the preceding varieties, but the pedicels short and 

 more or less fascicletl at the ends of the branches of the cyme. 



A very variable species, of Euro])e, Siberia, and the northern part of America, ranging from the 

 Arctic Ocean southward in tlie mountains to California, Colorado and the northern Atlantic 

 States; ehielly the varieties. Ifuniboldt County, along water-courses {Ratlun), the mw. pani- 

 Jim-a; in the Sierra Nevada, near Donner Lake {Toncij, Greene), the var. sulicoiKjestd, which has 

 also been collected on Mt. Haiiier (7'(<///i/V), in the Clover Mountains, Nevada ( //'«/««(., n. 1191 

 in part), and in the Itocky Mountains, Hall k Hurbuar, n. blt^t. 



2. L. divaricata, "Watson. TJesembling var. parviflora of the last species, but 

 the cyme dilfuse witli divaricately spreading branches and pedicc^ls : stem low (G to 

 8 inches or less) : perianth tinged with brown : seeds pale, with the basal end 

 darker. — Proc. Am. Acad. xiv. 302. 



In the Sierra Nevada, apparently frequent ; above Mono Lake at 10,500 feet altitude and at tlio 

 Big Trees (Breivcr) ; above Sununit Station (Greene) ; near Castle Peak, Lcminon. 



* * Flowers spicate: spikes erect, mostli/ jm^unculate in a ci/mose uinhel. 



3. L. COmosa, I^Ieyer. Villous: stems G to 15 inches high, leafy : leaves flat, 

 1 to 3 lines broad ; the foliaceous bract usually exceeding the inflorescence : i)edun- 

 cles 2 to 12, unequal, the longer 1 to 3 inches long : spikes simple, usually oblong, 

 loosely flowered : perianth pale or somewhat tinged witii brown, about 1 ), Hues long ; 

 segments narrowly acuminate, equalling the obtuse capsule : anthers small, equalling 

 tlie filaments : seed dark, with a white coni(;al a]i])endage sonu^,times half as long as 

 the seed. — Syn. Luz. 23, Pel. Ihcnk. i. U5, and Liinuea, -xxii. 413. 



