18 EXGLTSn BOTANY. 



ovatc-subglobular, scarcely trigonous, subacute and very shortly 

 mucronate, chestnut. Seeds with a rather short appendage at each 

 end. 



In damp hollows in sandy places by the sea. Rare, and confined to 

 the south of England, from Devon, Dorset, Sussex, and Kent, to the 

 north coast of Norfolk, and Carnarvon : apparently most generally 

 distributed on the Welsh coast. Very rare in Ireland, but found on 

 the south and south-east coast. 



England, Ireland. Perennial. Summer, 



Stems 2 to 4 feet high, very rigid, with the pith not separable from the 

 rind. Leaf-sheaths 2 to 6 inches long, the uppermost 1 or 2 terminating 

 in leaves which are similar in a[)pearance to the stems, and of the same 

 dark dull green. Lowest branches of the jjanicle -J to 4 inches long, 

 several times compound; ultimate branches usually with 2 flowers, 

 with keeled acuminate and somewhat aristate bracts enveloping each 

 pair of flowers, and extending beyond them, though scarcely exceeding 

 the fruit. Perianth leaves about ,V inch long, slightly keeled; the inner 

 ones remarkable for their broad white scarious margin, which is most 

 developed towards the apex, on each side of which it forms a rounded 

 or truncate wing. Capsule about } inch long by ^ inch broad, rounded 

 at the base, tapermg at the apex, very hard, shining. Seeds minute, 

 reddish-brown, with the testa produced at both ends into a sac 

 shorter than the solid part of the seed. 



Greater Sea Rush. 



French, Jonc aigu. German, Wald-Btnse. 



SPECIES VI.— J U N C U S MARITIMUS. Sm. 



Plate MDLIX. 



Reich. Ic. PI. Germ, at Helv. Vol. IX. Tab. CCCCII. 

 J. acutus, var. /3. Linn. Spec. PI. p. 464. 



Csespitose, growing in irregular tufts. Rootstock rather exten- 

 sively creeping, its branches with the stems placed close together one 

 Ijefore the other. Stems rather numerous, firm, wiry but not rigid, 

 terete, smooth when fresh, finely striate when dry, the barren ones 

 not much more numerous than the fertile ones, and shorter and 

 weaker than these, terminating in a slender acute pungent jwint. 

 Sheaths rather short, reddish-brown and green, scarcely shining, 1 or 

 2 of the uppermost ones frequently terminating in a lamina extremely 

 similar to the barren stems. Panicle at first pseudo-lateral, ultimately 

 but slightly so, the lowest bract resembling a continuation of the stem 

 and from as lonir as to twice as Ion"- as the i)nni('le, terniinntino: in 



