Juncus capillaceus

Juncus capillaceus Lam., Encycl. 3: 266. 1789. Type: Uruguay. Montevideo: P. Commerson s. n. (holotype P; isotypes B-W6848, MO, P). Figs. 2, 6 Perennial, cespitose herbs, 5-30 cm tall. Rhizome creeping, 1.5-2 mm diameter, covered with a filamentous dark brown layer of remaining sclerenchyma strands from splitting leaf bases and cataphylls, internodes very short and the culms arising in dense rows. Culms erect, canaliculate, 0.4-0.7 mm diameter. Cataphylls 1-3 to each culm, to 1.5 cm long, yellow-brown, with a rudimentary blade to 5 mm long. Foliar leaves all basal, 1 2 to each culm, 5-20 cm long; sheaths 0.7-1.7 cm long with the margins terminating in two 0.3 mm long, rounded auricles; blades filiform, 0.3-0.6 mm diameter, obtuse-angled with an adaxial groove at the base. Inflorescence terminal or pseudolateral, compound, 2-10 flowered, consisting of 2-3 short, unilateral cymes (drepania); lower inflorescence bract 1.5-5 cm long, appearing as a continuation of the culm and exceeding the inflorescence, upper bracts progressively shorter, the ultimate ones membranous, to 3 cm long; each flower clasped by two, 1 cm long bracteoles. Tepals unequal, lanceolate, light green with membranous margins, turning brown to stramineous at fruit ripening, outer ones 2.3-3 mm long, inner ones 2-2.5 mm long. Stamens six, 1.1-1.3 mm long; anthers oblong, 0.3-0.4 mm long. Capsule ellipsoid, to oblong, apiculate or often becoming truncate towards dehiscence, trigonous with concave sides, 2.3-2.6 x 1.2-1.6 mm, brown, glossy at maturity, thin walled and often with impressions of the contained seeds, 3-septate. Seeds ovoid, asymmetrical, slightly apiculate, 0.4-0.6 x 0.3-0.4 mm, finely patterned by narrow, transversally arranged polygons, brown. Distribution and habitat. J. capillaceus grows at high elevations, usually above 2700 m, along the Andes from Venezuela to Bolivia and Peru. It also occurrs at low elevations in Concepción in Chile and along the E coast of South America from Río de Janeiro in Brazil to Buenos Aires in Argentina. There are scattered occurrences in South Africa (Adamson 1935) and in Australia (Beadle et al. 1972) which presumably represent recent introductions since the plants are ruderal there. At least in the N Andes, where we have observed it, it is ecologically similar to J. imbricatus and grows and flowers in dry hard soils, and the two species are often seen together. It is found in small clumps along roads or in old grass fields rarely in salt meadows (Ewan 15631). In Colombia this species is found in the Cordillera Oriental (departments of Boyacá, Cundinamarca and Norte de Santander), center of Cordillera Central (Valle del Cauca) and Nudo de los Pastos, at elevations of 2100-3400 m. Representative specimens. Boyacá: Tunja, 2820 m, 5 Jul 1973, Ballesteros-G. 39, fr (COL); 2700 m, 15 Apr 1964, Saravía 3741, fl (COL); Paipa, Gran Hotel Termales near Paipa, 2577 m, 6 May 1944, Ewan 15631, fr (COL, US). Cundinamarca: boquerón de Bogotá, 21 Oct 1875, André 768 (F, NY); salto de Tequendama, 2400 m, 4 Jul 1963, McKee 10414, fr (COL, P, US); Bogotá, 5 Nov 1935, Pérez-Arbeláez 3204, fl, fr (COL, GH, US); Mosquera, Zanjón-Las Catedras, 2680 m, 13 Oct 1962, Saravía 1091, fr (COL); laguna de La Herrera, 2800 m, 19 Feb 1985, Vink 24, fr (COL). Nariño: Pasto, 2500 m, Espinosa 2890 (LL). Norte de Santander: between Mutiscua and Pamplona, 2700-3400 m, 23 Feb 1927, Killip 19687, st (GH, NY, US). Valle del Cauca: río Bugalagrande, loma de Barragán entre La Parilla y La Machuca, 2700 m, 13 Apr 1946, Cuatrecasas 20697, fr (F, US). Locality unknown: Mascofio, 2028 m, 21 Oct 1875, André 844 (F, NY); 1905, Brother Ariste-Joseph A393, A398, fl (US); Mutis 5312, fl (US).

Juncus

Ballesteros 39
Ewan 15631
Mc 10414
Pérez 3204
Saravía 1091
Vink 24

Juncaceae