Juncaceae

Rushes and wood-rushes

From Streeter et al., 2016, 'Family Key':

"Perianth with 6 small brownish or yellowish tepals; flowers hermaphrodite; leaves often cylindrical or channelled in section or grass-like with long wispy hairs."

For the specimen(s) below, hover over image in gallery for description and select for a full screen preview.

ID: 038

Date: 10 Jun 2024

Locality: Old canal, Buckingham

Location (Lat/Long): 51.998, -0.969

Landscape/habitat: At the side of an old part of a canal. This short portion of canal has been restored by a local preservation society.

Identification notes: I came here searching for rushes and sedges. This one was a rush and looked like it with its thin needle cylinders.

From Streeter et al. (2016, p. 544) description with my observations:

• 'Densely tufted' (perhaps difficult to see in my photos, but this is tufted)

• Stem 'Stiffly erect, dull, glaucous..' (yes, these were pointing up and had a blue-green colour to them)

• Stem: 'prominently ridged' (as per image, I could quite clearly see the ridges on the stem)

• Stem: 'pith interrupted' (I used my nail to break open the stem to see the pith, it is clearly interrupted, as per the photo)

• Habitat: 'banks of ponds, lakes, dykes'

The illustration in the book matched, especially the ridged stem and inside the leaf (the interrupted pith)

Name: Hard Rush, Juncus inflexus

References

Streeter, D., Hart-Davies, C., Hardcastle, A., Cole, F. and Harper, L. (2016) Collins wild flower guide. Revised and updated 2nd edition. edn. London: William Collins.