Luzula

• Authority

  Balslev, Henrik. 1996. Juncaceae. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 68: 1-167. (Published by NYBG Press)

• Family

  Juncaceae

• Scientific Name

  Luzula

• Type

  Type species. Luzula campestris (Linnaeus) A. P. de Candolle, typ. cons.

• Synonyms

  Juncoides, Luciola Sm., Gymnodes, Juncodes Kuntze

• Description

  Genus Description - Perennial, rhizomatous herbs, pilose at the margin of leaves and bracts. Culms erect. Leaves alternate, scale like on runners and rhizomes, foliar at the base of the culm, and bracteous in the inflorescence; sheaths closed, without auricles at the junction to the blade; blades linear to narrowly lanceolate, flat, concave or with involute margins. Inflorescence with many individually inserted flowers arranged in loose, much-branched panicles or with the flowers congested into dense clusters which are then arranged in a panicle, an anthela, a raceme, or contracted into dense spike-like structures. Each flower subtended by a bract at the base of the pedicel and clasped by 1-2 bracteoles inserted on the pedicel just below the flower. Flowers perfect. Tepals unequal or subequal, lanceolate; margin entire, sometimes scariose or divided into ciliate lobes. Stamens 3-6; filaments filiform, rarely linear and flattened; anthers oblong, rarely linear. Ovary sessile. Style short, filiform. Stigmas 3, filiform, twining, covered with sticky papillae. Capsule trigonous, sometimes basally 3-lobed, unilocular. Seeds 3 per capsule, attached to the placenta by a long delicate funicle, ellipsoid to oblong, brown to reddish brown; outer seed coat white, hyaline, or light brown. The name Luzula is a corruption of the Italian word lucciola (a little light) or the Latin verb lucére (to give light), referring to the shining appearance of the inflorescences which, in certain species, are overlain by hairs.

• Discussion

  Taxonomic History of Luzula

  Of the species now referred to Luzula, three were included in Juncus in Species Plantarum by Linnaeus (1753). Though several generic names have been used for various species of Luzula, Candolle (1805) was the first to circumscribe the genus as we now define it. Desvaux (1808), in his monograph of Luzula, accepted 24 species; E. Meyer (1823) also accepted 24 species but Laharpe (1825) only 20 species in their respective monographs of Luzula. Buchenau (1890, 1906), when revising the genus, included 51 and 61 species, respectively. Since 1906 there has been no treatment of the entire genus. Ebinger (1964) revised Luzula subgen. Pterodes, and there have been several revisions of the genus in geographically restricted areas.
  Desvaux (1808) arranged Luzula synoptically based on inflorescence characters, but did not name any subdivisions. E. Meyer (1823) divided the genus into four unnamed sections based on seed characters. Laharpe (1825) combined seed and inflorescence characters to divide the genus into four likewise unnamed sections. Again based on seed and inflorescence characters, Grisebach (1844-1845) formally proposed three sections: Luzula sect. Pterodes, sect. Anthelaea, and sect. Gymnodes. These sections were treated by Fourreau (1869) as genera and by Buchenau (1890, 1906) as subgenera. These three subgenera, though apparently quite artificial, have not been challenged, except for the segregation of Luzula elegans Lowe (= L. purpurea Buchenau ex Meyer) from subgen. Anthelaea into the monotypic subgen. Marlenia (Ebinger, 1963).
  Chrtek and Krisa (1974) segregated L. elegans to its own genus, Ebingeria, and described two sections in each of L. subgen. Luzula and subgen. Anthelaea.

• Distribution

  Luzula is a cosmopolitan genus of ca. 75 species, most of which occur in the north temperate region. In the tropical region the genus is totally absent in the lowlands but present at higher elevations, mostly above 2500 m. Tropical America has eight species of Luzula, tropical Africa three, and tropical Asia one.