CLASS VI. OllDKK I.] JUNCUS. 495 



/. acutus, on tlie Continent, than with us; and Smith ohserves in 

 English Botany, t. 1614, that the leaves of the /. acutus might well 

 serve Homer's frogs and mice for spears ; and it is probably the rush 

 he had in view, being common, as Dr. Sibthorp observed, on the shores 

 of Greece. 



Juncus acutus and maritimus are plants, though without the appear- 

 ance of attraction, of the greatest utility, and their growth is much 

 encouraged in many parts of the country on the banks of rivers and the 

 sea coasts, where they spread out their long fibrous roots and under- 

 ground stems into the sand, and these, together with their rigid stems, 

 resist the encroachments of the waters, and form barriers for the pro- 

 tection and increase of the land. In many parts of the country, and 

 especially on the Continent, these rushes, in conjunction with the mat- 

 grasses and sedge, make for themselves embankments, and are the first 

 vegetation to luxuriate on the new formed soil, and prepare it for the 

 nourishment and growth of other plants. 



** Barren stems, resembling leaves, or wanting, sheathed below, and 

 enveloping the base of the flowering stems. Inflorescence a lateral 

 panicle, with spreading or aggregate floivers. Seeds not appen- 

 diculated. 



3. J. glau'cus, Sihth. (Fig. 562.) Hard Rush. Stem naked, deeply 

 striated, sheaths at the base leafless ; panicle much branched ; seg- 

 ments of the perianth lanceolate, subulate, nearly equal ; capsule 

 elliptic, oblong, obtuse,' mucronate. 



English Botany, t. 665. — English Flora, vol. ii. p. 160. — Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 164. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 273. — J. inflexus. 

 Leers. Withering. 



Root with creeping underground stems, black, and with long stout 

 branched fibres. Stems erect, numerous, tufted, from one to two feet 

 high, round, smooth, slended, tapering upwards, deeply striated, of a 

 glaucous green, enveloped at the base in several membranous sheaths, 

 of a dark brown shining colour, obtuse at the point. Panicle mostly 

 about the middle of the stem, much branched, with angular spreading 

 branches, each division having at its base one or two palish thin 

 lanceolate membranous bractea, tapering into a point. Perianth of 

 six lanceolate awl-shaped pieces, of nearly equal lengths, of a pale 

 shining brown colour, marked at the back with a green keel. Stamens 

 shorter than the perianth. Anthers long, elliptic, yellow. Style short. 

 Stigmas spreading. Capsule elliptic, oblong, three angled, obtuse, 

 with a hard point the base of the style, about as long as the perianth, 

 of a dark shining brown, three celled, three valved, and many seeded, 

 the seeds small, brown, angular. 



Habitat. — Wet meadows and pastures, road sides and banks; not 

 uncommon. 



Perennial ; flowering in July. 



4. J. effu''sus, Linn. (Fig. 563.) Soft Rush. Stem naked, very 



