Juncee.] FLORA OF TASMANIA. 63 
A very remarkable genus, consisting of upwards of fifty species, all confined to Australia and Tasmania, 
and almost without exception confined in their ranges to the south-eastern or south-western guarters, scarcely any 
even of the south-coast species ranging from Victoria to Swan River. The species present great diversity in habit, 
but all are singularly dry, rigid, cyperaceous-looking plants, with fibrous roots, and almost invariably radical leaves, 
the stems being very short.— Leaves flat or terete, usually very long and rigid. Flowers sometimes in sessile heads, 
but usually in branched panicles, racemes, or spikes, sometimes densely capitate, often in dense clusters on the 
branches of the panicle. Flowers dicecious, generally greenish-white. Perianth six-parted; leaflets of the male 
flowers more or less cohering at the base, those of the female distinct, persistent. Stamens six, inserted on the peri- 
anth; anthers peltate. Ovary three-celled, cells one-ovuled. Capsule coriaceous, three-valved. Seeds with a mem- 
branous, pale testa. (Name from £nporns, dryness.) 
1. Xerotes longifolia (Br. Prodr. 263) ; acaulis, foliis lineari-elongatis rigidis strictis apice bilobis 
eroso-dentatis, scapo ancipiti, panicula lanceolata ramis oppositis basi longibracteatis, floribus nodoso-glo- 
merulatis sessilibus.—Kunth, En. iii. 374; Lindl. Bot. Reg. 1839. 7. 3. Lomandra longifolia, Lab. Nov. 
Holl. i. p. 92. £.119. (Gunn, 336.) 
Has. Abundant in dry and moist ground throughout the Colony.—(Fl. Oct.) (v. v.) 
DisrarB. New South Wales and Victoria. 
A harsh, cyperaceous-looking plant.— Zeaves 2 feet long, very rigid, linear, variously cut or truncate at the top. 
Scape erect, flattened, stout, 6-12 inches high. Inflorescence panicled; branches opposite, the lower sometimes 
whorled, with long, subulate-lanceolate, spreading bracts at the base. Flowers small, sessile in glomeruli on the 
branches of the panicle, subtended by spreading, subulate bracts. 
2. Xerotes glauca (Br. Prodr. 260); caule brevi basi ramoso, ramis brevibus, foliis angustissime 
linearibus strictis scaberulis apice tabescente obtuso, vaginis laceris, scapo simplici, floribus foemineis capi- 
tatis, masculis glomeratis, glomerulis in spicam elongatam dispositis.—Äunth, En. iii. 372; Sieb. Plant. 
Exsicc. 433, 488. (Gunn, 93.) 
Has. Abundant in gravelly soil near Penquite, and at Norfolk Plains, etc., Archer, Gunn.—(Fl. Nov.) 
DisrRiB. New South Wales and Victoria. 
A small, rigid species, 4-8 inches high, with a short, stout, much-branched stem, and long, very narrow, linear 
leaves, scaberulous to the touch, with blunt, brown tips. —Scapes short. Female flowers in a solitary, globose, 
almost sessile head ; males forming sessile glomeruli on an elongated, interrupted spike. 
Gen. II. JUNCUS, Z. 
Flores plerumque congesti, paniculati v. capitati. Perianthium coriaceum v. glumaceum, 6-partitum, 
2-bracteatum. Stamina 6 v. 9, basi perianthio inserta; filamentis planis; antheris linearibus. Ovarium 
prismaticum, 1—3-loculare; sfy/o brevi; stigmatibus 3, elongatis. Capsula prismatica, perianthio inclusa, 
3- rarius 1-locularis, loculicide 3-valvis. Semina plurima, ascendentia v. erecta; festa membranacea, inter- 
dum laxa v. utrinque producta, pallida.— Herbs erecta, annua v. rhizomate perenni, repente, squamoso ; 
culmis annuis, teretibus, basi foliosis v. aphyllis ; foliis glabris, teretibus v. rarius. planis v. adversis, intus 
continuis v. nodoso-articulatis; floribus viridibus brunneisve. 
A cosmopolitan genus, many of the species also being widely spread, of which the common English Rushes, 
Juncus communis, bufonius, and maritimus, all found in Australia and New Zealand, are examples. About twenty 
Australian species are known, most of which are temperate, and common to the east and west coasts, and to Tas- 
mania and other parts of the world. The species vary much in habit, being leafless or leafy, with the leaves terete, 
compressed, or quite flat.—Culms erect, bearing branched panicles or heads, or corymbs of inconspicuous, small, 
green or brown flowers. Perianth of six coriaceous or glumaceous leaflets. Stamens six, rarely three. Ovary 
