NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES OF JUNCUS. 263 
Var. y. is a stouter plant, 1-2} feet high, with the largest heads of any Juncus known to me, in fruit 6-8 lines in 
diameter, in a rather compact panicle; seeds like those of the last. The Texan variety and Dr. Vasey’s specimens 
mentioned above, unite this with the genuine J. nodosus, from which I cannot separate it, though looking so very 
distinct. 
44, J. Canapensis, J. Gay in La Harpe, Mon. 134; Kunth, 1. c. 333: caulibus cespitosis teretibus levi- 
bus 3 paniculze capitulis pauci-multifloris ; sepalis lineari- icnetdatia plerumque acutis, exterioribus ace [474] 
sicutive 3 vix seu paulo superantibus ; antheris oblongo-linearibus filamento brevioribus ; ovario in lum 
brevem attenuato, stigmatibus vix seu breviter exsertis ; capsula triangulato-prismatica uniloculari stained exserta ; 
seminibus oblongis seu oblongo-linearibus multicostatis plus minus caudati 
* Formee capitulis minoribus. siditie 
Var. a. coarctatus: caulibus humilioribus (3-1}-pedalibus) erectis ; panicule minoris coarctate ramis erectis ; 
orum minorum sepalis acutis seu raro obtusiusculis ; antheris oblongis filamento duplo brevioribus ; capsula cas- 
tanea acutata longius exserta ; seminibus seal lineolato-multicostatis, appendicibus diametrum fere sequantibus, — 
J. Canadensis, 8. Gay, l.c. J. acwminatus, Torr. N. Y, 2, 327; Gray, 1. c. 481; Chapm. Fl. 464, et Auct. Am. plur. non 
Michx. 
Var. 8. brachycephalus : caulibus elatioribus (13-2}-pedalibus) gracilibus erectis sen descendentibus ; panicule 
majoris effuse ramis patulis ; florum minorum sepalis plerumque obtusis ; antheris linearibus filamento brevioribus ; 
capsula e stramineo fuscata obtusiuscula mucronata breviter exserta seminibus ut in var. a. 
* * Forme capitulis majoribus plurifloris. 
Var. y. subcaudatus: caulibus (1-2}-pedalibus) gracilibus erectis seu decumbentibus ; panicule effuse ramis 
patulis sepe horizontalibus; capitulis pluri-(8-20)floris ; florum majorum sepalis acutissimis ; antheri s oblongo-lineari- 
bus filamento multo brevioribus ; capsulis demum stramineis plerumque acutatis exsertis rarius mucronatis subexsertis ; 
oe oblongis reticulato-multicostatis in appendices perbreves attenuatis 
r. 6. longecaudatus ; caulibus (1}-3-pedalibus) erectis robustis righlin; :  paniculee abbreviate seu patule capi- 
tulis Bes multi-(5-8-20-50-90) floris ; floruam majorum sepalis acutis seu rarissime obtusiusculis ; antheris oblongis 
sepe mucronatis filamento plerumque duplo brevioribus ; capsulis prismaticis obtusis mucronatis seu rarius acutatis 
seepe fuscatis sepala excedentibus seu rarissime squantibus ; ; seminibus oblongis seu oblongo-linearibus lineolato-mul- 
ticostatis, appendicibus diametro longioribus, —J. Canadensis, a. Gay, lc. J. St aii B. paradozus, Torr. 
2, 327. J. paradoxus, Gray, 1. c.; Chapm. 1. c. et Auct. Am. plur., non Meyer. 
This species inkahies the sant parts of North America and extends westward in the region of the Great Lakes 
to the Upper Mississippi and down to central Illinois, and again in the Gulf States to Louisiana, leaving out the 
central States of the Mississippi Valley, to which it seems to bea stranger. It flowers in July and cena [475] 
when J. acuminatus, with which it might be confounded, has already shed its seeds, — Var. a. is decidedly 
most northern form of this species, which extends from the northeastern States to Canada and the Lake Ske region, 
Hb. norm. 76 and 77, and southward to Pennsylvania, where Prof. Porter finds it in the neighborhood of Lancaster ; 
Dr. rE ioe gives Georgia as the southern limit of “ J. acwminatus,” but I have seen no specimens from those southern 
r. 8. has been observed from Pennsylvania, Porter, to western New York, Gray, Sartwell, Vasey, Clinton, 
seiitiate Ohio, Sullivant, central Illinois, Hall, Brendel, Michigan, Bigelow, Hb. norm. 76, and Wisconsin, Lapham. — Var. 
y- isa form of the Atlantic States, found from Connecticut, Haton, to New Jersey and Pennsylvania, Durand, Smith, Hb. 
norm. 81, Leidy, Porter, Hb. norm. 80, Delaware, Commons, Hb. norm. 82, District of Columbia, Bebb, South Carolina, 
Nuttall, and Georgia, Beyrich (distributed by him under the name of J. acwminatus). — Var. 8. is the most common of 
all the forms, extending over the whole region, with the exception, perhaps, of its northeastern extremity. I have not 
seen any specimens from Canada, or from the States north of Massachusetts. The Herb. norm. contains different 
forms of this variety ; from Michigan 84, Pennsylvania 83, Maryland 88, and South Carolina 85, 86, and 87. 
The different forms of this intricate species are as wide apart in habit, as well as in artificial characters, as they 
possibly can be, but are connected by insensible transitions, so that even the different varieties cannot always be kept 
clearly distinct. Its synonymy is in some confusion. It is quite impossible that specimens of so wide-spread and so 
easily accessible a species should not have been obtained by collectors long since, and we do indeed find such among 
Michaux’s (La Harpe, 1. c.) and among Schweinitz’s plants, and no doubt in many other old herbaria ; but, somehow 
or other, its striking diagnostic characters were overlooked, and it was thrown together with other species, such as the 
similar looking J. acuminatus, especially its var. legitimus, under the name of J. polycephulus or J. verticillatus (lege 
subverticillatus). — This and the following two species are well distinguished from all the other articulate ones by 
their tailed seeds and by the proportions of their usually strongly nerved sepals, the inner of which always exceed the 
® This arrangement of the varieties differs somewhat from that previously adopted by me on p. 436, and in some herbaria 
ee by me. No confusion will arise from this if the reader will only substitute ‘‘ brachycephalus”’ for brevicaudatus patulus. 
