The _hypogynous_ flowers in the Juncaceæ are completely developed on the _pentacyclic, trimerous_ type, with _dry, scarious perianth_. Even in these the interior whorl of stamens becomes suppressed, and the ovary, which in _Juncus_ is trilocular with many ovules, becomes in _Luzula_ almost unilocular, but still with 3 ovules. The perianth in the Cyperaceæ and Gramineæ is reduced from hairs, in the first of these, to nothing, the flowers at the same time collecting more closely on the inflorescence (spike) supported by _dry_ bracts (_chaff_); the number of stamens is almost constantly 3; stigmas linear; the ovary has only 1 loculus with 1 ovule, and the fruit, which is a capsule in the Juncaceæ, becomes a nut or caryopsis.--The endosperm is large and floury, the embryo being placed at its lower extremity (Figs. 286 _B_, 291).--The plants belonging to this order, with the exception of a few tropical species, are annual or perennial herbs. The stems above ground are thin, and for the most part have long internodes, with linear, parallel-veined leaves which have long _sheaths_, and often a _ligule_, _i.e._ a membranous projection, arising transversely from the leaf at the junction of the sheath and blade. The underground stems are short or creeping rhizomes. The flowers are small and insignificant. Wind- or self-pollination. Order 1. =Juncaceæ= (=Rushes=). The regular, hermaphrodite, hypogynous flowers have 3 + 3 brown, dry, free perianth-leaves projecting like a star during the opening of the flower; stamens 3 + 3 (seldom 3 + 0) and 3 carpels united into one gynœceum (Fig. 283); the ovary is 3- or 1-locular; there is as a rule 1 style, which becomes divided at the summit into 3 stigmas, often bearing branches twisted to the right (Fig. 283). _Fruit a capsule_ with loculicidal dehiscence. The embryo is an extremely small, ellipsoidal, cellular mass, without differentiation into the external organs. [Illustration: FIG. 283.--Flower of _Luzula_.] _Juncus_ (Rush) has glabrous foliage-leaves, generally cylindrical, rarely flat; the edges of the leaf-sheath are free (“_open_” leaf-sheaths) and cover one another. The capsule, 1- or 3-locular, with _many_ seeds--_Luzula_ (Wood-Rush) has flat, grass-like leaves with ciliated edges; the edges of the leaf-sheath are united (“_closed_” leaf-sheath). The capsule unilocular and _3-seeded_.--_Prionium_: S. Africa; resembling a _Tacona_. The _interior_ whorl of stamens, in some species, disappears partially or entirely (_J. supinus_, _capitatus_, _conglomerates_, etc.)