2643
J U N C U S nigritellus.
Black-headed Jointed Rush.
HE XA JSTDR IA Monogyiàa.
Gen. Char. Perianth 6-leaved, glumaceous. Stigmas
3. Capsule 3-celled, 3-valved, many-seeded.
Spec. Char. Leaves jointed., awl-shaped, cylindrical.
Heads few, many-flowered. Capsule longer than
the lanceolate, pointed perianth.
Syn. Juncus polycephalus. Don in Hook. FI. Scot.
109. Smith Engl. FI. v. 2. 177. but not of Michaux.
A NATIVE of marshy spots on the mountains of Clova,
Angusshire, where it was discovered many years ago by the
late Mr. George Don. Not aware that there was already
a species named polycephalus in Michaux’s Flora Boreali-
Americana, I described the present under that name
in the Flora Scotica of Dr. Hooker. My account of it in
that work being rather meagre may have induced M. La-
harpe, in his recent monograph of the genus, to refer it to
J . ustulatus of Hoppe ; but I trust that the detailed description
now given, accompanied by the accurate representation
by Mr. Sowerby, will remove all doubt respecting
the distinctions of these two plants.
Root perennial, creeping, thick, woody and knotty,
throwing out many long, thread-shaped fibres, of a pale
brown colour. Stems many, filiform, jointed, leafy, upright,
quite smooth, from 4 to 10 inches in height : joints distant,
slightly swollen. Leaves from an inch and a half to 4
inches long, awl-shaped, cylindrical, smooth and shining,
minutely striated, scarcely pointed, knotty with numerous,
internal partitions ; the base for about half way up the
joint forming a sheath, broad and channelled, with the margins
free and membranous, enveloping the stem. Heads