350 SPIDERWORT FAMILY. 



J. tenuis. Open low grounds and fields, everywhere N. : in tufts, with 

 wiry stems 10' -20' high, a loose panicle shorter than the slender leaves near it, 

 and green flowers with lanceolate very acute sepals longer than the green blunt 

 and scarcely pointed pod. % 



J. dich6tomU8. Low sandy grounds, takes the place of the preceding S. : 

 has more thread-like leaves, flowers more one-sided on the branches of the pan- 

 icle, and greenish sepals only as long as the globular and beak-pointed brown- 

 ish pod. y. 



§ 3. Knottt-leaved Rushes, the stems {often branching above) having 2-4 

 thread-shiiped or laterally flattened leaves, which are knotty as if jointed 

 {especially when dry) by internal cross-partitions: panicle terminal. Of 

 these there are many species, needing dose discrimination : the following are 

 only the very ccmimonesl, especially the northern ones. % 



J. acuminktus. Very wet places : 10' - 30' high ; heads 3 - lO-flowered in 

 a loose spreading panicle, greenish turning straw-colored or brownish; sepals 

 lance-awl-shaped, barely as long as the triangular sharp-pointed pod ; stamens 

 3 ; seeds merely acute at both ends. It flowers in early summer. 



J. noddsus. Mostly in sandy or gravelly soil : spreading by slender root- 

 stocks which bear little tubers, 6' -15' high; heads few, crowded, chestnut- 

 brown, each of 8-20 flowers; sepals lance-linfear and awl-pointed, hardly as 

 long as the slender and taper-pointed pod ; seeds abruptly short-pointed at both 

 ends ; stamens 6. 



J. SCirpoldes. From New York S. : stems rigid, l°-3° high from a 

 thick rootstock ; heads spherical and dense, 15-80-flowered, dull pale green; 

 sepals rigid, awl-shaped and bristly-pointed ; stamens 3 ; pod taper-pomted ; seeds 

 abruptly short-pointed at each end. 



J. Oanad^usis. Wet places, common, flowering in autumn, very variable, 

 l°-3° high; heads numerous, greenish or light brownish, 5 - many-flowered ; 

 sepals lanceolate, the 3 outer shorter ; stamens 3 ; seeds tail-pointed at both 

 ends. 



2. LUZULA, WOOD-RUSH. {Luciola is ItaXian (oi th.e glow-worm.) y. 



L. pilbsa. Shady banks N. : 6' - 9' high ; with lance-linear leaves, and 

 chestnut-brown flowers in an umbel, in spring. 



L. camp^Stris. Dry or moist fields and woods, 6' -12' hirfi, with linear 

 leaves, and 4-12 spikes or short heads of light brown or straw-coloi«d heads in 

 an umbel, in spring. 



126. COMMELYNACE.ffil, SPIDERWORT FAMILY. 



Herbs with mucilaginous juice, jointed and mostly branching leafjr 

 stems, and perfect flowers, having a perianth of usually 3 green and 

 persistent sepals, and three ephemeral petals (these commonly melt 

 into jelly the night after expansion) ; 6 stamens, some of them often 

 imperfect, and a free 2 - 3-celled ovary ; style and stigma one. Pod 

 2 - 3-celled, few-seeded. Not aquatic, the greater part tropical. 



1. COMMELYNA. Flowers blue, irregular. Sepals unequal, 2 of them sometimes 



united by their contiguous margins. Two of the petals rounded and on slen- 

 der claws, the odd one smaller or abortive. Stamens unequal; three of them 

 fertile, one of these bent inwards; three smaller and with cross-shaped im- 

 perfect anthers : filaments naked. Leaves abruptly contracted and sheathing 

 at base, the uppermost forming a spathe for the flowers. 



2. TBADESCANTIA. Flowers regular. Petals all alike, ovate, sessUe. The 



6 stamens all with similar and good anthers, on bearded filaments. 



1. COMMEIillTA, DAY-FLOWER. (There were three Commeb/ns, 

 Duteh botanists, two of them were authors, the other published nothing. In 

 naming this genus for them, linnseus is understood to have -designated the 



