92 JUNCACE^. 



heads, mostly thickest at the base, often nearly an inch in width. — 

 Salt-marshes near San Francisco, Bolander, no. 1568 in part, teste 

 Bailey. 



11. C. muricata L. var gracilis Boott. Kootstock creeping, 

 clothed with imbricated strongly neryed purple scales; stems f to 2 

 ft. high, very slender, sharply angled, scabrous; leaves shorter than 

 the stem, 1 line wide, tapering to a very slender, setaceous summit; 

 bracts ovate, awned, commonly exceeding the spikelets, the lowest 

 setaceous and often an inch or two long. 



Near the coast, from about San Francisco Bay, Bigelow, Bolander, 

 to Fort Bragg, Bolander, no. 4765, teste Boott. 



V2. C. echinata Murr. Csespitose; stems ^ to 2 ft. high, few- 

 leaved, stiff; leaves flat and gras.s-like, J to 1 line wide, much shorter 

 than the stem; lower bract subulate from a lanceolate base, longer or 

 shorter than its spikelet. 



Coast Ranges, Bolander; swamps near Santa Eosa, Bir/eloio, teste 

 Boott. Apr.-May. 



18. C. Deweyana Schwein. Ca>spitose; stems J to 4 ft. high, 

 sharply angled, scabrous, slender, weak and often decumbent; leaves 

 flaccid, 1 to 2 lines wide, shorter than the stem; lowest bract seta- 

 ceous, seldom exceeding the stem, upper shorter or scale-like. 



Shady hillsides, Napa Valley, Thurber, Bigelow, teste Boott. Var. 

 BoLANDEKi Boott. with a slender stem and broader leaves is reported 

 from Oakland, Bolander, teste Boott. 



14. C. festiva Dewey. Ceespitose; stems J to 2 ft. high, sharply 

 angled; leaves 3 to 5, the upper the longest, commonly shorter than 

 the stem, 2 to 2J lines wide. 



Coast Ranges, in woods among grass, the stems sometimes rooting: 

 from Monterey, Brewer, no. 697, to Ukiah, Bolander, teste Boott. 



5. JUNCACE>E. Rush Family. 



Annual or perennial herbs. Stems simple, terete or ancipital, 

 hollow or spongy. Leaves alternate, sheathing, narrow, flat or 

 terete. Flowers lily-like in structure, sedge-like in aspect, small, 

 dry, perfect, disposed in terminal or apparently lateral heads, spikes, 

 sub-umbellate clusters or panicles. Perianth consisting of 6 distinct 

 similar glume-like segments. Stamens 6 or sometimes 3. Ovarv 

 .superior, 3 or sometimes 1-celled; stigmas 3, filiform; ovules 8 to 

 many. Fruit a loculicidally 3-valved capsule. Embryo minute, 

 enclosed in fleshy endosperm. In both the genera Luzula and 

 Juncus, individuals of the same species vary greatly in aspect 

 owing to the tendency of the inflorescence to become either capitatelv- 

 congested on the one hand or loosely paniculate on the other. (The 

 specific keys and descriptions in this family have been done by Jlr 

 J. Burtt Davy.) 



Leaves stiff, terete or flat; steins usually with spongy pith; capsule 3 or 



l-celled; seeds several to many 1. Juncus. 



Leaves soft, flat: stems hollow; capsule 1-celled; seeds 3 . ... 2. Luzula 



