1666 CXLI. JUNCACEiE. [Xmithorrhaa.. 



7. X. quadrangulata (4-anglea), F. v. M. Fraym. iv. Ill; Benth. Fl. 

 Anstr. vii. 117. " Tcbaguii," Mount Perry, A'«)/.«. Caudex lengthening out to- 

 several feet. Leaves slender but rigid, l|ft. long, strictly 4-angular, though 

 sometimes slightly flattened, rarely above 1 line broad". Spike 3 or 4ft. long on a 

 scape at least as long or longer, IJin. thick when in flower. Bracts or bracteolea- 

 surrounding the flowers nearly as long- as the outer perianth-segments, glabrous.- 

 Outer segments ovate-spathulate, concave or almost complicate, very shortly 

 acuminate, quite glabrous ; inner segments obtuse, about 3 lines long, 3 or -5- 

 nerved, the whitish shortly flattened apex very little exceeding the outer- 

 segments. Stamens not much longer than the perianth. Fruit not seen.— Bot.. 

 Mag. t. 6075. 



Hab : Mount Perry, J. Keys. 



3. JUNCUS, Linn. 



(From juwjo, to join ; ropes are said to be made from some species.) 



Perianth of 6 equal glume-like segments. Stamens either 6, 3 attached to the- 

 base of the inner segments and 3 alternate with them, or fewer 1, 2 or all 3 of the- 

 inner ones deficient, filaments filiform ; anthers oblong or linear, erect,, 

 emarginate at the base or almost entire. Ovary sessile, with 3 parietal placentae 

 sometimes scarcely prominent, more frequently protruding and sometimes 

 meeting or even connate in the centre, dividing the ovary more or less perfectly 

 into 3 cells ; ovules usually numerous in each cell ; style divided usually to- 

 the middle into 3 linear or filiform stigmatic lobes often spirally twisted. 

 Capsule 3-valved, the valves usually bearing the placentae in their centre, or- 

 rarely the linear placentas becoming detached and remaining distinct or cohering 

 in a central column. Seeds very small, usually ovoid, the testa minutely striate- 

 retieuldte, with a very thin transparent outer membrane, often scarcely distinct 

 from the testa, but sometimes produced at the end of the seed into a terminal 

 loose appendage often called a tail. Embryo small, near the hilum. — Perennial 

 or rarely annual herbs, the stems usually tufted or crowded on a creeping 

 rhizome. Leaves usually or all radical, grass-like or terete or sometimes all 

 reduced to sheathing scales. Flowers small in little dense clusters or forked 

 cymes, the clusters or cymes usually several or many, either sessile or nearly so 

 in a dense head, or unequally pedunculate in a simple or branched irregular 

 panicle, really terminating a simple leafless scape with 1, 2 or 3 leafy bracts at 

 the base, but sometimes the inflorescence appears lateral, the bract being terete^ 

 bx;t little dilated at the base and strictly erect, forming an apparent continuation 

 of the stem. 



The genus is very generally spread over almost all known parts o£ the world, most abundant 

 in temperate or cool regions, in marshes, maritime sands or wet mountains, but found also 

 in similar situations within the tropics. 



Leaves grass-like and flat or rarely almost terete. Inflorescence terminal 

 with spreading brads. 

 Flowers brown, few or many in close clusters. 

 Flower-clusters paniculate (habit of Luzula). 

 Leaves all radical, mostly 1 to 3 lines broad. Stamens 3. Ovules 



and seeds numerous. . . • 1. J. pUmifolius. 



Flowers pale-coloured, in loose cymes or in clusters of 2, 3 or rarely 

 more. Stems under 1ft. high. 

 Annual. Flowers mostly distinct, in a much-branched leafy panicle 2. J. hufonius. 

 Tufted perennial. Flowers clustered (2 to 6), in a slightly branched 



leafy panicle 3. J. liomalocaulis, 



Laaves terete or nearly so or reduced to sheathing scales. Panicles 

 apparently lateral below the end of rigid leafless stems (the subtending 

 leafy bract erect and continuing the stem). 

 Leaves and terminal bract not jointed. 

 Filaments filiform. Seeds not tailed. 



Stamens 3. Scales at the base of the stem usually short. 

 Flowers distinct in the paEic .~ ii«nts> 



