ENGELMANN—NORTH AM. SPECIES OF JUNCUS. 479 
where it grows with several forms of J. Canadensis” C. JE. 
Smith , Hb. n. 91; also at Quakerbridge, C. JE. Parker’ flow¬ 
ering in August and in'fruit in September.—An interesting 
and well characterized species closely allied with the last 
ones', with which it has in common the longer inner sepals 
and the tailed seeds, distinguished from them by its rough 
stem and leaves, its large flowers with 6 large stamens, and 
its large dark seeds with (usually) purplish tails.—Rough¬ 
ness is a rare character in the genus Juncus, , which I find no¬ 
ticed only in the South American /. rudis , Kunth, and the 
Portuguese /. rugosus , Steud.; in these the flowers are smooth 
just as in our species, while in J.falcatus the stem and leaves 
are smooth and only the flowers rough (see p.452). All parts 
of this plant are very rigid, the stems lf-2J feet high, the 
panicle 2 or 3—6 or 7 inches long, less in expansion; fruit- 
heads 4-6 lines in diameter, usually with 3-5, sometimes only 
with 2 flowers; flowers 2^ lines long or more; capsule equal¬ 
ing or scarcely exceeding the rigid and sharp pointed green 
or darkish tipped sepals; outer sepals indistinctly 5-nerved, 
inner ones (at least in the dry state) strongly 7-nerved; cap¬ 
sule tough and hard, reddish or greenish brown, at base com¬ 
pletely, upwards partially, 3-celled; seeds 0.5-0.6 line long, 
their diameter being nearly equal to half their length, the 
lower appendage thick and usually short, the upper one not 
quite as long as the seed itself; whole seed, with the tail, 
about 1 \ lines long; side of seed with 12 or 14 ribs, and usu¬ 
ally distinctly cross-lineolate. 
47. J. Mertensianus, Bong. Veg. Sitcha in Mem. Ac. St. 
Petersb., ser. 6, vol. 2 (1833), 167, ex Kunth, L c. 361: cauli- 
bus e rhizomate crasso repente caespitosis humilioribus (spi- 
thameis pedalibus) compressis debilibus; vaginis foliorum 
averse compressorum auriculatis; floribus pluribus (15-25) 
fusco-atris pedicellatis in capitulum laxius singulum seu rarius 
bina ternave aggregatis spatha brevioribus; sepalis ovato-lan- 
ceolatis, exterioribus acuminato-subulatis, interioribus ple- 
rumque paulo brevioribus obtusis mucronatis seu rarius exte- 
riora asquantibus acutis, stamina (3-) 6 superantibus capsulam 
late obovatam obtusam mucronatam aequantibus seu super¬ 
antibus; antheris oblongis seu oblongo-linearibus saepissime 
mucronatis filamentum aequantibus seu eo brevioribus; stylo 
quam ovarium obtusum plerumque breviore; seminibus ob- 
lanceolato-obovatis fusiformibus utrumque breviter caudatis 
reticulato-costatis, arcis lineolatis.— -P. ensifolius y Hook IFL 
Bor. Am. 2, 191; Gray in PI. Hall & Harb. 1. c. 
V ar. (3 . paniculatus : caule elatiore (ultra bipedali); vagi¬ 
nis vix auriculatis; oapitulis (6-9)minoribus (10-15-floris) in 
paniculam compositam dispositis. 
From the islands of the Korth-west coast, Sitcha, Mer- 
