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. debilis. Stems slender (9'- 1 8' high); heads green, 3 - 6-flowered in a 

 loose panicle ; flowers smaller ( \\" ~\^" 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 

 (\n_\Vi 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 (1 i" — 2" long); sepals as long as the straw-colored or light-brown pod. 

 (J. acuminatus, Michx. J. paradoxus, 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. 

 ■*-•»- -i- Heads few, crowded, of numerous flowers. 

 ++ 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 i" 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 (l°-3° high), with thick leaves j 

 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 intermediate form, with numerous green heads in a compound panicle, occurs 

 in Michigan and Northern Illinois. 



++ ++ Stamens 3. 



23. J. brachycarpus, Engelm. Stem erect (1°- 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. 



