516 XUZULA. [CLASS VI. ORDER I. 



also drooping from the top of the erect slender stem, and its darker 

 colour narrow leaves and roundish ovate capsule distinguish it from 

 the L. pediformi of Villers, which, though not found with us, is nearly 

 allied to it, and has been thought a variety of it. 



7. L. arcu'ata, Hook. (Fig. 590.) Curved Mountain Wood Rush. 

 Panicle somewhat umbellate, of from three to five flowered clusters, 

 on long drooping peduncles ; bracteas membranous, fringed ; perianth 

 of six nearly equal broadly lanceolate bristle pointed segments, longer 

 than the roundish ovate capsule; leaves channeled, slightly hairy. 



Hooker in Fl. Lond. N. S. t. 153.— British Flora, vol. i. p. 170, 

 and in English Botany, Suppl.t. 2688— English Flora, vol. ii. p. 183. — 

 Lindley, Synopsis, p. 277. — Juncus arcuata, Wahl. Lapp. p. 87. t. 4. — 

 Juncus nivalis, Don. Mss. in Herb. Brodie. 



Root long branched downy fibres, with somewhat creeping under- 

 ground stems, spreading around, and forming small tufts. Stem erect, 

 from three to five inches high, round, smooth, finely striated, and 

 bearing one or two short leaves, sheathing at the base, and enveloping 

 the stem. Leaves from the root numerous, short, curved, linear, chan- 

 neled, finely striated, smooth, or with a few fine soft hairs scattered 

 over the margins, especially near the base, but generally soon falling 

 away. Panicle terminal, of several slender recurved branches, in a 

 somewhat umbellate manner, mostly simple, sometimes divided, ter- 

 minating in a head of about three flowers, the foot of the branches as 

 well as the base of each flower enveloped in one or two lanceolate 

 membranous bractea, with ciliated margins. Perianth of six nearly 

 equal broadly lanceolate pieces, of a dark brown colour, keeled at the 

 back, which terminates in a slender bristly point. Stamens about half 

 as long as the perianth, with yellow linear anthers, equal in length to 

 the slender filaments. Capsule shorter than the perianth, roundish, 

 ovate, bluntish, with a small point the base of the style. Seeds small, 

 with an obscure conical appendage at the base. 



Habitat. — Stony ground on the highest of the Grampian range of 

 mountains, Scotland. — Hooker. Fonniven, a high mountain in Suther- 

 land, and in Assqut. — Dr. Graham. 



Perennial; flowering in July and August. 



This interesting and rare species of Luzula grows in the most elevated 

 situations of any of our species, and its season of flowering is dependent 

 upon the more or less severe state of the weather. " The flowering 

 season of this plant," observes Sir W. J. Hooker, " is August ; but so 

 severe is the climate at the elevation at which it grows, (upwards of 

 4,000 feet above the level of the sea), that it does not always come to 

 perfection; and in the month of August, 1830, owing to the unusual 

 quantity of snow which fell during the summer months, scarcely a 

 perfect blossom appeared to have been formed." 



