| Mr. Davies's Determination of Three British Species of Juncus. | 11 |
an oval triangular shape, terminated by a short blunt point; the stalk to 4–6 joints.
This is Juncus articulatus, Fl. Brit., Fl. Herborn.; and compressus of Sibthorp and Relhan. Moris. s. 8 t. 9 f. 2. Scheuchz. 331. 1. R. Syn. 433. 8. but I cannot refer to the Sp. Pl., where the definition is petalis obtusis.
In the second the panicle is more branched, the branches more slender, and spreading, the divisions of the calyx narrower and longer, the capsule smaller, much more taper-pointed, and lighter-coloured; culm of fewer joints, that, and the leaves, less compressed. It is a taller plant, sometimes above three feet high, and it ripens later.
This I take to be Moris. s. 8. t. 9. f. 1. certainly Scheuchzer, p. 334. 4. who says: "Calami tribus quatuorve communiter genuculis distincti,—Flosculi nunc dilutiùs nunc obscuriùs fusci aut spadicei,—Vasculum seminale triquetrum, in acutum mucronem terminatum." It is likewise J. articulatus of Relhan; and nemorosus of Sibthorp.
My third differs from both the former in several particulars:—The panicle is much lighter-coloured; the peduncles, which are divaricated, and even bent back, are evidently thicker than those of the second, the panicle of which resembles this more than that of the first. Then the smallest capsule of this;—the pale-coloured bunches of florets,—and particularly the elliptic obtuse segments of the calyx, with a broad scariose margin, fully distinguish it from the other two. It is, besides, a firmer plant, the nodes in the leaves being scarcely perceptible without a considerable degree of pressure;—the culm and leaf are quite round, and it never have more than two joints in the stalk!
I find no description of this species besides the short one in Fl. Brit. articulati var. β, "culmo erectiore, panicula ramosiori,
| c 2 | floribus |
