202 JUNCACE^. Luzula. 



A heterogeneous order of a dozen genera or more, of which most are peculiar to Australia, the 

 two following typical genera the most important, and chiefly conhned to temperate and arctic 

 regions. 



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



lous. Stems hollow, leafy. In dry ground. 



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



usually with spongy pith. In moist ground or water. 



1. LUZULA, DC. Wood-Rush. 

 Stamens always G. (,'apsule triangular-ovate, 1-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- 

 volucrate umbels or panicles, or more or less 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 North Ajnerica, most of them belonging also to the Old World. 



* Pedicels 1-Jiowered, in a loose compound cyme. 



1. L. spadicea, DC. Glabrous or slightly villous: stems 6 to 18 inches high 

 or more : leaves broad (2 to 5 lines) : inflorescence lax and nodding, 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 the filaments : seed oblong, 

 brownish, not appendaged. — Meyer, Linna^a, xxii. 399 ; Eeicheub. Icon. Fl. Germ. 

 ix. t. 387. 



Var. parviflora, IMeyer. Inflorescence often 3 to G inches long, with elongated 

 unequal drooping branches and slender pedicels : flowers usually smaller : anthers 

 about equalling the filaments. — L. imrviflora, Desv. ; Kuntli, Enum. iii. 300 ; 

 Reichenb. 1. c, t. 388. 



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

 — L. mdanoi-avpa, iJesv. ; Kunth, 1. c. 299. L. parvifiora, var. mdanocarpa, Gray, 

 Manual, 536. 



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

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



A very variable species, of Europe, Sibeiia, and the northern part of America, ranging from the 

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

 States ; chiefly the varieties. Humboldt County, along water-courses {Rattan), the var. j)ari:i- 

 Jlora; in the Sierra Nevada, near Donner Lake {Torre.y, Greene), the var. suhconyesta, which lias 

 also been collected on Mt. Ranier {Tolmie), in the Clover Mountains, Nevada {Watson, n. 1191 

 in part), and in the Rocky Mountains, Hall & Harbour, n. 555. 



2. L. divaricata, Watson. Resembling var. parvifiora of the last species, but 

 the cyme difl"use with divaricately spreading branches and pedicels : stem low (6 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 the 

 Big Trees {Brewer) ; aljove Summit Station {Greene) ; near Castle Peak, Levimon. 



* * Flowers spicate: spikes erect, mostlf/ pedunculate in a cymose umbel. 



3. L. comosa, Meyer. Villous : stems 6 to 15 inches high, leafy : leaves flat, 

 1 to 3 lines broad ; the foliaceous bract usually exceeding the inflorescence : pedun- 

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

 loosely flowered : perianth pale or somewhat tinged Math brown, about li lines long ; 

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

 the filaments : seed dark, with a white conical appendage sometimes half as long as 

 the seed. — Syii. Luz. 23, Rel. Ha?nk. i. 145, and Linnam, xxii. 413. 



