17. Luzula multiflora (Ehrhart) Lejeune, Flore des Environs de Spa. 1: 169. 1811.
Juncus campestris (Linnaeus) de Candolle var. multiflorus Ehrhart, Beitr. Naturk. 5: 14. 1790
Culms densely to loosely cespitose, 10--40 cm. Leaves: basal leaves 3.5--12 cm x 2--6 mm; cauline leaves equaling or exceeding inflorescences. Inflorescences: glomerules 3--16 (each with 8--16 flowers), 1--2 nearly sessile with others on evident peduncles, mostly cylindric; secondary branches sometimes present, usually straight, erect; proximal inflorescence bract barely as long as to exceeding inflorescence. Flowers: tepals pale brown to chestnut brown to blackish with clear margins, 2--4 mm; outer and inner whorl ± equal, or outer whorl slightly longer (outer whorl pointed, inner whorl pointed or truncate-mucronate); anthers not more than 2 times filament length; stigmas 0.8--1.5 mm; styles not persistent in fruit. Capsules pale to brown to black, globose, shorter than to ± equaling tepals. Seeds 1.1--1.7 mm; caruncles 0.2--0.6 mm.
Subspecies 6 (3 in the flora): North America; Eurasia.
Many names have been applied to members of this variable complex throughout the range of this flora. No monograph is yet available to enable a satisfactory treatment. Juncus multiflorus (Ehrhart) Hoffmann (1800), not Retzius (1795), is an illegitimate name that pertains here.
SELECTED REFERENCES
Jarolimova, V. and J. Kirschner. 1995. Tetraploids in Luzula multiflora (Juncaceae) in Ireland. Folia Geobot. Phytotax. 30: 389--396. Kirschner, J. 1990. Luzula multiflora and allied species (Juncaceae): A nomenclatural study. Taxon 39: 106--114.
