JUNCACI^E. (rush family.) 543 



24. J. SCirpoides, Lam. Stem erect (l°-3° high), rigid, from a thick 

 white horizontal rootstock, bearing about 2 leaves with wide and open sheaths, 

 and a panicle of few or many densely -flowered pale-green spherical heads much 

 longer than the involucral leaf; sepals rigid, awl-shaped and (especially the 

 outer) bristly pointed, at length pungent, nearly equalling the oblong-triangular 

 taper-pointed 1-celled pod; seeds ovoid, abruptly pointed at each end, ribbed- 

 reticulated. (J. polycephalus, Michx.) — The following forms belong here. 



Var. macrostemon. Rather slender; leaves terete; branches of the 

 panicle erect and often elongated; heads smaller (3^" -4" wide), 15-40 flow- 

 ered; flowers 1^'' — 1 2" long; outer sepals mostly longer than the inner, as long 

 as the stamens ; anthers very small ; seeds \" long. (J. echinatus, Muhl. J. 

 macrostemon, Gay.) — Wet sandy soil, from Staten Island (C.F. Austin) south- 

 ward near the coast. 



Var. echinatus. Stouter; leaves terete; branches of the compact panicle 

 short; heads larger (5"-6" wide), 40 - 80-flowered ; flowers (l|"-2" long); 

 sepals narrower and more sharply pointed, the outer a little longer than the 

 inner ones ; stamens shorter and anthers longer than in the preceding, and 

 seeds rather smaller and more slender. (J. echinatus, Ell.) — From Maryland 

 southward. 



Var. polycephalus. Much stouter,- leaves laterally flattened (3" -6" 

 wide) ; panicle spreading, branched, bearing many distant heads as large as 

 tnose of the foregoing form ; flowers 2" - 2|" long ; the 3 outer sepals the longer; 

 anthers about as long as the filaments; seeds larger (£" long). (J. poly- 

 cephalus, Ell., Chapm.) — From North Carolina southward ; and may be 

 looked for in Southern Virginia. 



* * Seeds tailed. - 

 +- Stamens 3. 



25. J. Canadensis, J. Gay. Tufted stems erect, terete, smooth, bearing 

 2-3 leaves ; heads few- or many-flowered, paniculate ; sepals lanceolate, the 3 

 outer shorter than the inner ones, not much longer than the stamens, equal to 

 or shorter than the triangular prismatic almost 1-celled usually short-pointed 

 pod ; style mostly short ; seeds more or less distinctly tail-pointed, delicately 

 many-ribbed. — Common in most districts. Aug., Sept. — One of the latest 

 flowering species, and thus easily distinguished, even when quite immature, 

 from the similar but early J. acuminatus. This very variable species comprises 

 ,the following forms. 



v . Var. longicaudatUS. Stem stout and rigid (l£°-3° high), bearing in a 

 decompound somewhat spreading panicle the numerous 5 - 50-flowered heads ; 

 flowers greenish or light brown (1 J" - 2" long); sepals awl-pointed mostly 

 shorter than the abruptly short-pointed pod; seeds slender (§"-1" long), con- 

 spicuously tail-pointed. (J. paradoxus, Ed. 1 & 2, Chapman, frc.) — From 

 S. New England southward along the coast, and westward to Wisconsin and 

 Northern Illinois. 



Var. subcaudatus. Stem slender, often decumbent (l°-2°high), bear- 

 ing in simpler spreading panicles fewer 8 - 20-flowered heads; flowers greenish, 

 as large as last ; sepals awl-shaped, but not so rigid ; pod mostly tapering ; seeda 



