TORREY'S RUSH
File Size: 84 KB
 
Juncus torreyi  Coville
Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas
Perennial
Height: 8-32 inches
Family: Juncaceae - Rush Family
Flowering Period:   July, August
Culms: Erect, stout, rigid, unbranched, round.
Leaves: Blades 2-4, cylindric, often exceeding culms, less than 1/5 inch wide, thick, hollow, circular in cross-section, divided into partitions, glabrous, diverging abruptly from culms; bases sheathing culms; auricles rounded.
Inflorescences: Heads, spherical, dense, 1-20, stalked, terminal, about 1/2 to 3/4 inch in diameter, 30-80-flowered; bracts leaf-like, exceeding inflorescence.
Flowers: Perianth segments narrowly lanceolate, about 1/5 inch long, tapered to long points, greenish, turning gold or brown after flowering; outer perianth segments longer than inner; stamens 6, about 1/2 as long as perianth segments.
Fruits: Capsules, narrowly awl-shaped, 3-sided, brown; tips long-tapered, as long or slightly longer than perianth segments; seeds numerous, tiny, egg-shaped.
Habitat: Marshes, wet prairies, pond and stream edges, and roadside ditches, most abundant in sandy soils.
Distribution: Throughout Kansas.
Comments: Named for botanist John Torrey, (1796-1873), Torrey's rush is one of the most commonly encountered rushes in Kansas. It reproduces by seed and by rhizomes.

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