RUSH FAMILY 499 



species, less than a foot high, with faintly striate stems ; -flowers 

 few, pale, crowded in a small sessile cyme, about half-way up the 

 stem ; perianth-leaves lanceolate, longer than the roundish, blunt, 

 mucronate capsule ; stamens 6. — Stony lake-shores in the north ; 

 very rare. — Fl. July, August. Perennial. 



6. /. acutus (Great Sea Rush). — The largest British species, 

 growing in circular tufts, with stout, rigid, sharply-pointed stems 

 and leaves 3 — 6 feet high ; brown flowers in a dense, branched, 

 corymbose panicle ; perianth-leaves half as long as the large, 

 rounded, polished, mucronate capsule. — Sandy sea-shores ; in great 

 abundance in few places. — Fl. June — August. Perennial. 



7. /. maritimus (Lesser Sea Rush). — Resembling the preceding, 

 but irregularly tufted, with less stout, less rigid, erect, spinous 

 stems, 1 — 2 feet high; similar leaves; very pale flowers in an 

 interruptedly branched, erect panicle ; perianth-leaves lanceolate, 

 as long as the elliptic, mucronate capsule. — Salt marshes ; fre- 

 quent, — Fl. July, August. Perennial. 



8. /. iriglumis (Three-flowered Rush). — Stems tufted, without 

 runners, 3 — 6 in. high, round, leafless ; leaves radical, awl-shaped, 

 channelled, formed of 6 tubes internally; flowers 2 — 3, terminal; 

 capsule pale red-brown. — Mountain bogs ; rare. — Fl. July, 

 August. Perennial. 



9. /. biglumis (Two-flowered Rush). — A very rare alpine 

 species, 2 — 6 in. high, with leafless stems channelled down one 

 side ; leaves radical, awl-shaped, compressed ; flowers 2, chestnut- 

 brown. — Fl. July, August. Perennial. 



10. /. castdneus (Clustered Alpine Rush). — Another very rare 

 alpine species ; stem 6 — 12 in. high, with runners and 2 — 3 chan- 

 nelled, hollow leaves; flowers bright brown, in 2 — 6-flowered, 

 terminal, or sometimes also lateral, cymes ; perianth-leaves 

 lanceolate-acute, half as long as the pointed, chocolate-brown 

 capsule. — Bogs on the summits of lofty Scottish mountains ; very 

 rare. — Fl. July, August. Perennial. 



11. /. tr'.fidus (Three-leaved Rush). — Another small species, 

 with a creeping rhizome; crowded, slender, erect stems, 2 — 8 in. 

 high ; with one subulate leaf above, and others reduced to 

 sheaths ; flowers brown, 1 — 3 together between 2 long, leafy 

 bracts ; capsule ovoid, acute, longer than the perianth. — Moun- 

 tain bogs in northern Scotland, forming dense matted masses. 

 — Fl. July, August. Perennial. 



12. /. squarrosus (Heath Rush). — Well marked by its rigid 

 stems and leaves. The stems are 6 — 12 in. high, erect, stout, 

 solid, occurring in tufts, but unbranched and generally leafless ; 

 leaves mostly radical, rigid, half as long as the stem, grooved ; 



