ENGELMANN—NORTH AM. SPECIES OF JUNCUS. 469 
confounded i vith, Si nodosus s, which latter Michaux does 
not seem t tae known or distinguished, and which, on the 
— biol is taken by Hooker in Flor. Bor. Am. for J. poly- 
ee 
All the forms of this species have compact, globose, mostly 
greenish heads, turning straw-color or light brown at maturi- 
ty, on rigid or stout stems, rising, at least in var. a an 
thick white horizontal rhizomas; those of var. y I have never 
seen in herbarium specimens; sheaths of the teakek: especially 
in a and , loose and open; stamens 3, very rarely, in var. a, 
forms a not justly claim to be considered as a distinct 
Var. ais readily recognized by its wiry stem 1-2 feet high, 
its strictly erect HA gece of a few (5-9, rarely single) small 
heads, 84-4 lines in diameter, and composed of 15-30-40 
flo wers,* the stamens of which are oe oe as the sepals, the 
small n their tips; flowers 
14-14 lines long; seeds 0,220.28 line rien their length being 
equal to 2-24 diameters. The form with long protrading 
styles has in ficwees a very curious aspect; in fruit it is wie 
of a deeper brown than any other variety, and its capsules 
not mines 6 teary as we find them in all other forms of 
* Muhlenberg describes his J: echinatus with footy heads, and La- 
arck his J. scirpoides with heads bearing 12-18 flow 
