JUNCACE.E. (RUSH FAMILY.) 545 



many densely-flowered pale-green spherical heads, much longer than the invo- 

 lucral leaf, its branches erect and often elongated ; heads (3-4" wide) 15-40- 

 flowered; flowers 1;|- 1-J" long; sepals rigid : awl-shaped and (especially the 

 outer) bristly pointed, at length pungent, as long as the stamens and nearly 

 equalling the oblong-triangular taper-pointed 1 -celled capsule; anthers very 

 small ; style elongated or very short ; seeds ovoid, abruptly pointed at each 

 end (" long). Wet sandy soil, Mass, to N. J. and S. 0., west to Ind., Mo., 

 and Tex. 



Var. echinatus, Engelm. Stouter; leaves terete; branches of the com- 

 pact panicle short ; heads larger (5 - 6" wide), 40 - 80-flowered ; flowers If - 2" 

 long) ; sepals narrower and more sharply pointed, the outer a little longer 

 than the inner ; stamens shorter and anthers longer than in the preceding, 

 and seeds rather smaller and more slender. Md. to Fla. 



Var. polycephalus, Engelm. Much stouter ; leaves laterally flattened 

 (3-6" wide); panicle spreading, branched, bearing many distant heads as 

 large as in the last ; flowers 2 - 2-" long ; the 3 outer sepals the longer ; an- 

 thers about as long as the filaments ; seeds larger (|" long). S. Va. to Fla., 

 west to Mo. and Tex. 



++ ** Stamens 6. 



25. J. nod6sus, L. Stem erect (6 - 15' or 2 high), slender from a creep- 

 ing 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 lance-linear, awl- 

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

 triangular taper-pointed 1-celled capsule; anthers oblong, shorter than the 

 filaments ; style very short ; seeds (about J" long) obovate, abruptly mucro- 

 nate. Swamps and gravelly banks, N. J. and Penn. to N. Ind. and Iowa, and 

 northward. July, Aug. Var. MEGACEPHALUS, Torr. Stem stout (1-3 

 high), with thick leaves; heads few and large (6-8" wide), 30 - 80-flowered ; 

 flowers pale green (2J -2" long) ; outer sepals longest ; anthers linear, shorter 

 than the filaments. Western N. Y. to Minn, and Mo., and westward. 



* * Seeds caudate. 

 H- Stamens 3. 



26. J. Canad6nsis, J. Gay. Tufted stems erect, terete, smooth, bearing 

 2-3 leaves ; heads few- or many-flowered, paniculate ; sepals lanceolate, the 3 

 outer shorter than the inner, not much longer than the stamens, equal to or 

 shorter than the triangular-prismatic almost 1-celled usually short-pointed 

 capsule ; style mostly short ; seeds more or less distinctly tail-pointed, deli- 

 cately many ribbed. Common almost everywhere. Aug., Sept. Easily dis- 

 tinguished by its late flowering from the similar n. 22. Very variable. 



Var. longieaudatus, Engelm. Stem stout and rigid (1J-3 high), 

 bearing in" a decompound somewhat spreading panicle the numerous 5 - 50- 

 flowered heads; flowers greenish or light brown (l|-2" long); sepals awl- 

 pointed, mostly shorter than the abruptly short-pointed capsule ; seeds slender 

 (J-l" long), conspicuously tail-pointed. Maine to S. C.,.west to Minn, and 

 La. The most common form. 



Var. subcaudatus, Engelm. Stem slender, often decumbent (1-2 

 high), bearing in simpler spreading panicles fewer 8 - 20-flowered heads : 



