1. JÚNCUS, Tourn. Rush. Bog-rush.
Capsule many-seeded, 3-celled, or 1-celled by the placentæ not reaching the axis. Stamens when 3 opposite the 3 outer sepals.—Chiefly perennials, and in wet soil or water, with pithy or hollow and simple (rarely branching) stems, and panicled or clustered small (greenish or brownish) flowers, chiefly in summer. Plant never hairy. (The classical name, from jungo, to join, alluding to the use of the stems for bands.)
§ 1. Stems leafless and scape-like, from matted running rootstocks, sheathed at base; the sheaths sometimes bearing terete knotless leaves like the scape; flowers in sessile apparently lateral panicles, the involucral leaf being similar to and continuing the scape.—Juncus proper.
[*] Flowers solitary on the pedicels or ultimate ramifications of the panicle.
[+] Sheaths at base of the stem leafless.
[++] Stamens 3.
1. J. effùsus, L. (Common or Soft Rush.) Scape soft and pliant (2–4° high); inner sheaths awned; panicle diffusely much branched, many-flowered; flowers small (1¼´´ long), greenish; sepals lanceolate, very acute, as long as the narrow triangular-obovate retuse and pointless greenish-brown capsule; anthers as long as the filaments; style very short; seeds small (about ¼´´ long), with short pale points.—Marshy ground, very common. (Eu.)—Var. conglomeràtus, Engelm. Scape more distinctly striate; panicle closely crowded; capsule short-pointed. In sphagnous swamps.
[++][++] Stamens 6.
2. J. filifórmis, L. Scape very slender (1–2° high), pliant; panicle few-flowered, almost simple; flowers 1½´´ long; sepals lanceolate, the inner a little shorter and less acute, longer than the broadly ovate obtuse but mucronate greenish capsule; anthers shorter than the filaments; style very short; seed (less than {1/3}´´ long) short-pointed at both ends, indistinctly reticulated.—N. Eng. to Mich., Neb., and northward. (Eu.)
3. J. Smíthii, Engelm. Scape rather slender (2–3° high); panicle few-flowered, nearly simple; flowers brown (1¼´´ long); outer sepals lanceolate, acute, the inner a little shorter, obtusish, shorter than the broadly ovate rather triangular acute deep chestnut-brown capsule; anthers as long as the filaments; style short; seeds large ({1/3}´´ long or more), obtuse, short-appendaged at both ends, many-ribbed and reticulated.—Sphagnous swamps, on Broad Mt. and in Lebanon Co., Penn.