726 Obbeb 152.— COKMBLYNACB^. 



countries. Sts. many, 3 to 8' long. Lvs. few, 1 to 2' long. Fls. many, seound. 

 Jn. — Aug. 



21 J. Greenii Oakes & Tuokm. Scape tall, subterete, striate ; lvs. filiform-seta- 

 ceo'JS, subterete, scarcely channeled, shorter than the scape, with sheathing base ; 

 panicle dense, branches suberect ; iracts setaceom, one of them much longer than 

 the panicle; fls. single, approximate; sep. ovate, acute, twice shorter than the tri- 

 angular-acute, shining caps. — ^Wet grounds, E. I., Mass. (Ricard). A handsome 

 rush, •! to 2f high, rigid, strict. Lvs. all radical Panicle 2 to 3' long, one of the 

 bracts twice longer, the other twice shorter. Caps. 2" long, reddish brown. 



22 J. tenuis Wind. St. scape-like, slender, erect; lvs. subradical, linear-seta- 

 ceous, shorter than the stem ; bracts 2 — 3, much longer than the panicle ; fls. 

 single, approximate, green; sep. acuminate, longer than the subglobous-triangular 

 capsuie. — A very common rush, about foot-paths and roadsides, and in fields and 

 meadows, U. S. and Can. Stems wiry, 6 — 24' high. Leaves very narrow, 3 — 8' 

 long. Panicle subfasciculate, 5 — 10-flowered, varying to subumbellate and 20 — 

 30-flowered, the rays very unequal. Jn., Jl. 



J3. DiCH6T0Mns. Panicle regula/rly forlced once or twice, branches erect, in- 

 curved, with the contiguous fls. regularly distychous ; sep. scarcely longer 

 than the capsule. — Waysides, SomerviUe, Mass., also South. (J. dichotomus 

 EU.) 



23 J. bulbosus L. /3. Geeardi. St. very slender, compressed; lvs. mostly 

 radical, linear-setaceous, shorter than the stem ; panicle small, few-flowered, sub- 

 trichotomous, longer than the bracts ; fis. separate, approximate by pairs or 3s, 

 dark-colored : sep. equal, acute, incurved, rather shorter than the svbglobous, obtuse, 

 caps. — A common rush, in salt marshes, N. J. to the Arc. Sea, usually with dark 

 green foliage and brown capsules. Sts. not bulbous, tufted, erect, or decumbent 

 and stoloniferous, 1 to 2f high, tough and wiry. Lvs. 3 to 8' long, bracts 6 to 

 12". Fls. 12 or more, at length brown or blackish. Jl., Aug. — It makes good 

 hay. 



Order CLII. COMMELYNACE^. Spidkrworts. 



Ba-bs -ivith flat, narrow leaves which are usually sheathing at base. Perianth of 



2 series, the outer of 3 herbaceous sepals, the inner of 3 colored petals. Stamens 



6, some of them usually deformed or abortive, hypogynous. Ovajry 2 to 3-oelled, 



cells few-ovuled. Style and stigma united into one. Ca/ysvM 2 to 3-celled, 2 to 3- 



valved ; cells often but 2-seeded, with looulioidal dehiscence. Seeds few, with dense, 



fleshy albumen. Embryo opposite the hilum." Pigs. 584, 592. 



Oenera 16, specieft 260, chiefly natives of the Indies, Australia and Africa, a few N. America- 

 They are of little importance to m.an. The anomalous genus, Mayaca, constitutes an order by 

 itself in Kunth. 



GENERA. 



§ Flowers irregular, clustered in a spathe-like, cordate, floral leaf Commeltna. 1 



§ Flowers regular, clustered ; floral leaves like the rest. Stamens 6 Tuadkscantia. 2 



§ Flowers regular, solitary, axillary stamens 8. Moss -like herbs Mayaca. 3 



1. COMMELY'NA, Dill. (In honor of the brothers Commelyn, Ger- 

 man botanists.) Fls. irregular ; sepals herbaceous, petals colored ; 

 stamens 6, 3 of them sterile and furnished with cruciform glands for 

 anthers ; capsule 3-celled, 3-valved, one of the valves abortive. — Lvs. 

 lance-linear with sheaths at base. Fls. enfolded in a conduplioate, per- 

 sistent, spathaceous, cordate bract, erect in flower, recurved before and 

 after. Petals blue, open but a few hours. 



* Prostrate spathe opposite the leaves, complicate, base-lobea free Nos. 3, 2 



* Erect or ascending. Spathe sub terminal, — complicate, subpeltate Ko. 3 



— cucuUate-peltate Nos. 4, 5 



1 C. commiinis L. Procumbent, much branched ; branchlets mArlced with a hairy 

 line; lvs. sessile, ovate-kmceolate, acuminate, rounded at base, margin finely serru- 



