Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

INLAND RUSH

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Juncus interior Wiegand

Riley County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 8-34 inches

Family: Juncaceae - Rush Family

Flowering Period: May, June, July, August

Culms:

Erect, light green, grooved.

Leaves:

Blades channeled or sometimes rolled inward, several, 1/3 to 1/2 as long as culms, less than 1/10 inch wide, glabrous; auricles membranous, tiny, rounded, colorless, at juncture of sheaths and blades.

Inflorescences:

Cymes, open to compact, 1 to 4 inches long, terminal; branches many-flowered, ascending; bracts 1-several, leaf-like, usually longer than inflorescence.

Flowers:

Perianths about 1/10 inch long; secondary bracts at bases of perianths paired, small, conspicuously pointed; perianth segments 6, erect, straw-colored, nearly equal in size, pressed against surfaces of capsules; tips tapered to points; stamens 6, about 1/2 as long as perianth segments.

Fruits:

Capsules, oblong to egg-shaped, shorter than or almost as long as perianths; tips blunt; seeds numerous, tiny, oblong or egg-shaped.

Habitat:

Wet to drying upland prairies, marshy sites, woodland edges, and ditches.

Distribution:

Principally east 3/4 of Kansas.

Forage Value:

Rushes have limited forage value.

Inland rush