2644
J U N C U S capitatus.
Dense-headed Rush.
H E X A ND R IA Monogynia.
Gen. Char. Perianth 6-leaved, glumaceous. Stigmas
3. Capsule 3-celIed, 3-valved, many-seeded.
Spec. Char. Stem erect, unbranched, leafy at the base.
Leaves bristle-shaped, channelled. Heads one or
two, lateral and terminal. Stamens 3. Perianth
twice as long as the truncated capsule, the outer
leaves keeled, bristle-pointed.
Syn. Juncus capitatus. IVeigel Obs. 28. t. 2. f . 5.
Ehrh. Calam. 8. Willd. Sp. PI. v. 2. 209. syn.
very doubtful. Lind. Syn. Brit. 275.
J. gracilis. Roth Germ. v. 1. 155. v. 2. p. 1. 402.
J. foliatus minimus. Bauh. Hist. v. 2. 523. f .
Schcenus minimus. Forster in Sym. Syn. 197.
T h i s humble Rush appears to have been but little known
to British botanists, before Sir J. E. Smith described it and
settled the synonyms in his English Flora.
The Juncus capitatus is admitted as a British plant upon
the authority of Mr. Hudson, who gathered it below the
village of Bovet, between Fort George and Fernain Bay,
in the Isle of Jersey. The specimens which have served
for the description and figure before us, were in the herbarium
of the late Dr. Gray, who brought them from Portugal.
There can be no doubt of their being the plant referred
to by the author of the English Flora, since they agree precisely
with the specimens in his herbarium ; and as there
is not much chance of obtaining fresh indigenous ones, it is
thought advisable to use these.
The plant grows either solitary or crowded. Root simply
fibrous, apparently annual. Stems many, upright, smooth,
angular when dry, from 2 to 4 inches high, terminated by
a leaf-like bractea, and a nearly globose head of flowers :
in many instances a second head is raised above the bractea,
and, rarely, two such heads are produced. Upon one or two
stems in our specimens there is half way up a membranous