266 NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES OF JUNCUS. 
rather incomplete ; but they are distinct enough to prove Meyer wrong in referring the Sitcha plant to his J. falcatus 
Ledeb. Fl. Ross. 4, 228). Bongard, to be sure, describes the leaves as flat, but they are not adverse like those of J. 
fulcatus, but averse like those of J. xiphioides, and besides, are slightly but distinctly knotted. 
Stems 7-14 inches high, compressed, but not ancipitous except in var. 8., “weak and flaccid” (Hall), eur 
below, smooth upwards ; leaves, as in all its allies, of very different width, usually $-1 or rarely 14, but in 6, 14-2 
lines wide ; heads 43-6 lines in diameter; flowers very distinctly pedicelled, 13 to (commonly) 2 ae long ; inner 
sepals, as in this whole section, quite eueihiley obtuse to acute and even sas Ooh usually shorter, but in some 
flowers of the Sitcha specimens even longer than the outer ones. Stamens $ or i the length of the sepals, usually 6, 
but sometimes 3 (3 Bongard ; 4-5, aa in Sitcha and Cascade a specimens, 6 in all those from the Rocky 
Mountains or California; wehioht I have examined; anthers as long as or usually shorter than the filament, often 
apiculate. Ovary as well as capsule broadly obovate and obtuse. The seeds make a near approach to those of the 
ast section, their appendages being sometimes quite conspicuous; in Hall’s Colorado specimens I find them usually 
very short, while in a specimen of Dr. Hayden’s they are almost equal to the diameter of the seed; the seed itself is 
0.23-0.30 line long, the length being equal to 2-23 diameters; with the appendages they are 0.30-0.35, and in the above- 
mentioned specimen of Dr. Hayden even 0.50 line long ; 7-9 and in some Rocky Mountain specimens (Drummond, 
Hall) 9-12 ribs are visible on the side; the surface is desinlochs reticulated with more or less distinct cross-lineolation. 
, With its tall stem, long and broad leaves, and a panicle of 3 inches in length, looks quite distinct from 
the ondary hic: but I cannot find any more essential differences. 
3 species with the four following ones, the Mexican ./. brevifolius, Liebm., and the Asiatic J. Leschen 
aultii, Gay, form a very natural group, united by characters as well as secieeptbed range. Their compr cell [481] 
or ancipitous stems usually come from a creeping rhizoma, and bear laterally compressed or averse equitant 
leaves, which in the larger forms resemble greatly those of Sisyrinchiwm and other iridaceous plants, and which are 
very imperfectly septate or articulate; their sheath sometimes terminates with two auricule or stipular appendages, or 
piri and in the same species, imperceptibly runs out into the edge of the leaf. The flowers, always pedicelled, 
re brown, mostly deep chestnut, rarely greenish or paler, and are arranged in few or many-flowered heads ; in many 
pr we find forms with single or few large heads in clusters, and others with numerous small heads disposed in 
compound panicles. The sepals are mostly broad, the outer ones acute or acuminate, the inner ones often shorter and 
obtuse, rarely longer, often variable even in flowers of the same head. The number of stamens also varies in the same 
species. The style is distinct, either short, or sometimes very long. The mucronate capsule is about as long or rarely 
longer than the calyx, nearly one-celled. Seeds reticulate, with smoothish or lineolate arew. They inhabit the 
western slope of North America and extend to the Asiatic side of the Pacific. 
48. J. XIPHIOIDEs, E. seal Syn. June. 50 et Rel. Haenk. 1, 143 ; Kunth, 1. ¢. 331: caul ibus ALB pe: 
e rhizomate crasso repente erectis ancipitibus; capitulis pauci- vel multifloris paucis plurimisve; floribus pedicellatis ; 
sepalis lanceolatis subulato-acuminatis equalibus seu interioribus obtusioribus brevioribus stamina 2A seu raro (in var. 
e.) 3 fere duplo superantibus capsulam prismaticam acutam mucronatam hine rostratam plerumque equantibus ; 
antheris oblongo-linearibus filamentum fere equantibus; ovario ovato in stylum breviorem attenuato, stigmatibus 
su rtis; seminibus ovato-oblanceolatis utrumque apiculatis lineolato-reticulatis. 
Var. a. littoralis : caulibus robustis elatis (2-4-pedalibus) ; foliis latis iridaceis, vaginis sepius inappendiculatis ; 
— seepe supradecom mpositee ca capitulis pauci- vel pluri-(3-20)floris e stramineo fuscis ; sepalis subzequilongis capsula 
acuta seu rostrata vix brevioribus ; antheris sepe apiculatis filamento paulo louganeben:; ; seminibus oblanceolatis. — 
J. ekanies Mey. lc. 
Var. 8. auratus: caulibus gracilibus elatis (3-pedalibus ultra) ; vaginis in folia latiora sensim excurrentibus ; 
panicule supradecomposite capitulis pauci-(5-10)floris stramineis nitentibus; sepalis equilongis capsula rostrata bre- 
soumenn ; ate ut supra. 
y- montanus: caulibus humilioribus (spithameis sesquipedalibus) ; foliis angustioribus basi plerumque 
auri sani: ener Lanes -(3-10)fi oris pallidioribus pluribus paniculatis seu paucis (raro singulis) pluri-(12- [482] 
20) vel multi-(20-50) floris fuscis ; floribus paulo minoribus ; sepalis interi caine brevioribus plerumque acutis, 
exterioribus capsulam ice? mucronatam equantibus ; sontinibus ut supra. — J. xiphioides, Torr. Bot. Mex. Bound. 
222; Gray, Pl. Hall & Harb. 1. ¢ 
Var. 8. macranthus: éwalitus mediis (sesqui-bipedalibus) ; vaginis in folia angustiora sensim excurrentibus ; 
capitulis paucis multi-(18—40)floris ; floribus majoribus fuscis ; sepalis fere equilongis, interioribus spe obtusiusculis 
capsulam acutam equantibus ; seminibus majoribus obovatis abrupte apiculatis. — J. polyc cephalus, a, ex parte, Hook. 
Fl. Bor. Am. 1. c. 
Var. ¢. triandrus: caulibus humilibus seu mediis (spithameis bipedalibus) ; vaginis in folia angustiora sensim 
excurrentibus ; capitulis singulis paucisve multi-(15-30)floris seu pluribus pauci- (5-8)floris paniculatis ; floribus major- 
ibus atrofuscis 3-andris ; sepalis equilongis seu interioribus obtusioribus subbrevioribus capsulam mucronatam equanti- 
bus seu ea brevioribus ; sxintaibus fere ut in var. a. — J. ensifolius, Wickstr. in Act. Holm. 1823, II. 1; Kunth, 1. ¢. 337. 
