Common Name: RUSH FAMILY Habit: Annual, perennial herb generally from rhizomes. Stem: round or flat. Leaf: generally basal; sheath margins fused, or overlapping and generally with 2 ear-like extensions at blade junction; blade round, flat, or vestigial, glabrous or margin hairy. Inflorescence: head-like clusters or flowers 1, variously arranged; bracts subtending inflorescence 2, generally leaf-like; bracts subtending inflorescence branches 1--2, reduced; bractlets subtending flowers generally 1--2, generally translucent. Flower: generally bisexual, radial; sepals and petals similar, persistent, scale-like, green to brown or +- purple-black; stamens generally 3 or 6, anthers linear, persistent; pistil 1, ovary superior, chambers generally 1 or 3, placentas 1 and basal or 3 and axile or parietal, stigmas generally > style. Fruit: capsule, loculicidal. Seed: 3--many, generally with white appendages on 1 or both ends. Genera In Family: 7 genera, 440 species: temperate, arctic, and tropical mountains. Note: Flowers late spring to early fall. eFlora Treatment Author: Peter F. Zika, except as noted Scientific Editor: Douglas H. Goldman, Bruce G. Baldwin.
Common Name: RUSH Habit: Rhizome 0 or generally with scale-like leaves. Stem: generally cylindric or flat. Leaf: blade well developed and cylindric or flat, occasionally closely resembling stem, or reduced to small point; crosswalls generally present; appendages generally present at blade-sheath junction. Inflorescence: generally terminal, appearing lateral when pushed aside by inflorescence bract; bractlets 0--2. Flower: sepals, petals similar; stamens generally 3 or 6(2); pistil 1, ovary chambers 1--3, placentas axile or parietal, stigmas generally 3(2). Seed: many. Etymology: (Latin: to join or bind, from use of stems) Note: All species with leaf crosswalls may have leaves, stems swollen, deformed by sucking insects. Fruiting time given instead of flowering time. Plants included in TJM2 as Juncus brachyphyllus now treated in California as a new species, Juncus trilocularis (Zika 2012 Rhodora 114:309--329); Juncus bulbosus, Juncus dichotomus, and Juncus elliottii, only noted as naturalized in TJM2, now fully treated. eFlora Treatment Author: Peter F. Zika Reference: [Ertter 1986 Mem New York Bot Gard 39:1--90]
Common Name: SOFT or LAMP RUSH Habit: Perennial herb, cespitose, 60--155 cm; rhizome stout. Stem: 2--5 mm wide at base, above sheath; when fresh, upper stem smooth, shiny. Leaf: basal; blades 0. Inflorescence: appearing lateral, open; lowest bract cylindric, resembling stem, >> inflorescence; flowers generally many, single; bractlets 2 per flower. Flower: perianth parts 1.8--4.2 mm, +- equal, generally pale brown; stamens 3, filaments <= to > anthers. Fruit: +- = perianth, obovoid, +- truncate. Seed: 0.5 mm; appendage 1, minute. Chromosomes: 2n=40. Note: Native and naturalized.
Juncus effusus L. subsp. effusus
NATURALIZED Stem: to 105 cm, 2--5 mm wide above sheath, 14--26 fine ridges per side, pith solid. Leaf: sheath 5--14 cm, deep brown below, papillate, dull, upper 1/2 green to pale brown, veins +- strongly converging at broad +- symmetrical summit, margins thin, generally dark-banded, overlapping near tip. Flower: perianth 2.2--2.5 mm, pale brown, spreading or curving away from fruit; filaments > anthers. Fruit: 1.7--2 mm, < perianth, oblong-truncate, brown, partitions concave, united only at base. Seed: +- asymmetrical, appendages minute. Ecology: Lakeshores, wet pastures, disturbed damp ground; Elevation: < 1700 m. Bioregional Distribution: CaRH, n SN, ScV; Distribution Outside California: to Alaska, eastern North America, native to Eurasia. Fruiting Time: Jun--Oct Note: Invasive, easily mistaken for native subspecies. Unabridged Synonyms: Juncus effusus var. compactus Hoppe ex Mert. & W.D.J. Koch Jepson eFlora Author: Peter F. Zika Reference: [Ertter 1986 Mem New York Bot Gard 39:1--90] Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange) Previous taxon: Juncus effusus subsp. austrocalifornicus Next taxon: Juncus effusus subsp. pacificus
Botanical illustration including Juncus effusus subsp. effusus
Citation for this treatment: Peter F. Zika 2015, Juncus effusus subsp. effusus, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, Revision 3, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=75030, accessed on January 23, 2025.
Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2025, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on January 23, 2025.
No expert verified images found for Juncus effusus subsp. effusus.
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