542 JUNCACE^E. (RUSH FAMILY.) 



acute at both ends, ribbed-reticulated. (J. palle'scens, E. Meyer, as to the N. 

 American plant. ) Earlier than other species which are 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' high) ; heads green, 3 - 6-flowered in a 

 loose panicle ; flowers smaller ( \y - l" long) ; pod longer than the sepals. ( J. 

 debilis, Gray, in former editions.) Wet sandy soil, New Jersey to Kentucky 

 and southward. Stems sometimes decumbent and rooting. 



Var. roblistUS. Stems stout, tall, (2 -4 high), bearing numerous 5-8- 

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

 (1"-1-L" long); ovoid pod scarcely longer than the sepals. Deep swamps in 

 the Mississippi Valley, from Illinois southward. 



Var. legitimus. Stems slender (l-2 long), bearing fewer and larger 

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

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

 ( J. acummatus, Michx. J. paraddxus, E. Meyer. J. fraternus, Kunth. J. sub- 

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

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

 *-!-- Heads few, crowded, of numerous Jlowers. 

 -* Stamens 6. 



22. J. nodbsus, 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 lance-linear, awl- 

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

 gular taper-pointed 1-celled 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, from New England and Pennsylvania 

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

 the islands above Niagara, G. W. Clinton. 



Var. megacephalus, Torr. Stem stout (1 -3 high), with thick leaves; 

 heads few and large (6" -8" wide) 30 - 80-flowered ; 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 intennediate form, with numerous green heads in a compound panicle, occurs 

 in Michigan and Northern Illinois. 



*-+ -w- Stamens 3. 



23. J. brachycarpus, Engelm. Stem erect (l-2 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) abruptly apiculate, ribbed-reticulated. Moist 

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

 May, June. 



