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Manual of the New Zealand Flora.

[Introduction to Order Lxxxiii. JuncaceÆ.]

Perennial, rarely annual herbs. Rootstock short, stout, scaly. Stems usually simple, slender, stiff, erect, cylindrical or compressed, sometimes septate within. Leaves usually all radical, often rigid and terete like the stems, sometimes fiat and grassy, occasionally absent or reduced to sheaths. Flowers small, green or brown, regular, hermaphrodite or more rarely unisexual, in axillary or ter-minal cymes or clusters, rarely solitary. Perianth inferior, cori-aceous or scarious, persistent; segments 6 in 2 series, imbricate. Stamens usually 6, inserted on the bases of the perianth-segments, the 3 interior sometimes wanting; filaments free, flattened or fili-form; anthers 2-celled, introrse. Ovary superior, 1-celled or 3-celled; style short or long; stigmas 3, filiform; ovules few or many, anatropous. Fruit a 1- or 3-celled capsule, loculicidally 3-valved. Seeds few or many, erect; testa membranous, often lax at each end; albumen copious, fleshy; embryo minute.

An order of moderate size, comprising 14 genera and about 250 species. The two typical genera (Juncus and Luzula) are widely dispersed, especially in temperate or extratropical regions; the remainder of the order is mainly Aus-tralian. The species have no important properties and cannot be said to possess any economic value.

Glabrous. Flower solitary. Ovary 1-celled, ovules many. Style long 1. Rostkovia.
Glabrous. Flowers several or numerous. Ovary often 3-celled, ovules many. Style short 2. Juncus.
Hairy. Flowers several or numerous. Ovary 1-celled, ovules 3. Style short 3. Luzula.