Western Wetland Flora
Field Office Guide to Plant Species
Juncus confuses Coville
- Family: Rush (Juncaceae)
- Flowering: June-August
- Field Marks: The presence of 2 small bracts at the base of each flower, the shallowly notched capsule, and the nearly thread-like leaves readily distinguish this species.
- Habitat: Wet meadows, along streams, in moist woods.
- Habit: Perennial herb with fibrous roots.
- Stems: Upright, slender, unbranched, up to 1 1/2 feet tall, smooth.
- Leaves: Mostly near the base of the plant, thread-like to narrowly linear, flat or rolled up into a hollow tube, up to 1/24 inch wide, smooth.
- Flowers: Several in small, crowded clusters up to 1 inch long, subtended by 1-3 leafy bracts up to 4 inches long, each flower subtended by a pair of small bracts.
- Sepals: 3, free from each other, brown with a green mid-vein, up to 1/4 inch long.
- Petals: 3, free from each other, brown with a green mid-vien, up to 1/4 inch long.
- Stamens: 6.
- Pistils: Ovary superior, smooth.
- Fruits: Capsules oblongoid, more or less triangular up to 1/6 inch long, a little shorter than the sepals and petals, shallowly notched at the tip.
- Notes: The seeds are eaten by waterfowl.
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Next Species -- Drummond's Rush (Juncus drummondii)