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ENGELMANN—NORTH AM. SPECIES OF JUNCUS. 441 
strongly compressed stem, together with the broad and 
apruptly acuminate sepals, distinguish it from the smaller 
forms of J. Balticus , the absence of leaves and the form of 
the sepals from J. compressus , with both of which it is closely 
allied by the form of the stamens, so different from those of 
any other American or European Juncus of this section.— 
Stems a foot high, four or five inches of which belong to the 
spathe ; inflorescence small, rather compact; flowers 2§ lines 
long; sepals dark brown, greenish in the middle, membrana¬ 
ceous on margin.—I have named this plant for Prof. Wm. H. 
Brewer in acknowledgment of his services in the cause of 
science in California. 
5. J. Balticus, Dethard. ap. Willd., is well characterized by 
its long and large anthers, which it has in common only with 
the ;two last mentioned species, and its terete stem and 
leafless vaginae. Originally found on the shores of the Baltic, 
it has been traced to those of north-western Europe and to 
our north-eastern coasts from Newfoundland to Massachu¬ 
setts ; but here it leaves its seaside home and appears in 
several swamps in Lancaster county in the interior of Penn¬ 
sylvania ; all along the great lakes it is a common plant, not 
unexpected, to be sure, as on their shores we meet with many 
other marine plants, such as Cakile , Lathy rus maritimus , 
Euphorbia polygonifolia , and others, while they are quite 
iree from saline matter. Is it the ocean-like spray of the 
waves of these immense bodies of fresh water, is it the ever- 
varying sand formation of the downs, which invites sea-strand 
plants, or are they the remnants of an ocean-coast vegetation 
left from a period when the beds of these lakes were filled by 
an immense arm of the sea ? Be that as it may, our species 
is not confined by the line of the lakes, but appears again 
on the upper Mississippi and St. Peters rivers, hence north¬ 
westward into the British possessions, and westward to 
the Mauvaises Terres and to the head waters of the Mis¬ 
souri, and then southward along the Rocky Mountains to 
Colorado and New Mexico, and farther west to the Cascade 
Mountains in Oregon. We find it again as a true maritime 
plant on the Pacific coast from the northern Russian islands 
to California and in Chili. This Pacific form is so different 
from the others that some will regard it as a distinct type. 
The different forms may be thus characterized: 
J. Balticus genuinus: caulibus tenuioribus rigidis farctis ; 
paniculse laxioris ramis dichotomis ; floribus minoribus ; cap- 
sula obtusa mucronata, seminibus grosse lineolatis. 
Var. a. Europceus: sepalis exterioribus acutioribus longio- 
ribus capsulam late ovatam obtusam mueronulatam subae- 
quantibus ; antheris minoribus filamento duplo longioribus; 
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