Grasses List |
Rushes Family [Juncaceae] |
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petals
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stem
2nd Aug 2009, ex-Windsor High School, Salford, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
Up to 1.2m in length, a stiff upright reed growing in moist grassy places, especially on lime or clay. |
11th July 2012, Middlewood Locks, Salford, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
Flowers emerge from about 3/4 way up the reed, but it does vary. |
11th July 2012, Middlewood Locks, Salford, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
Flowers emerge from a slit on one side of a single stiff reed. The numerous thinner emerging stems are of differing lengths, and themselves branch into further un-equal length flowering stalks. |
11th July 2012, Middlewood Locks, Salford, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
Flowers are light brown with a dark-brown egg-shaped fruit in the centre. |
11th July 2012, Middlewood Locks, Salford, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
Flowering stems emerge from two paperish light-brown pointed 'bracts'. The main reed stem is stiff, glaucous green and ribbed. |
11th July 2012, Middlewood Locks, Salford, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
A plethora of flowers and fruits. There are several paperish light-brown pointed bracts wherever stems branch into two or more. |
11th July 2012, Middlewood Locks, Salford, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
The six 'petals' are pointed light-brown with darker brown edges. The fruit is darker brown and egg-shaped, with a little point where the three stamens used to be attached. |
11th July 2012, Middlewood Locks, Salford, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
Petals with darker-brown edges. |
11th July 2012, Middlewood Locks, Salford, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
Fruits may be browner at the pointed top initially. |
4th July 2015, Leasowe Lighthouse, Moreton, Wirral. | Photo: © RWD |
The stem is stiff and inflexible. It has ridges along its length like a reamer with extremely short white hairs within the grooves formed. |
4th July 2015, Leasowe Lighthouse, Moreton, Wirral. | Photo: © RWD |
The pith is not continuous but interrupted. |
4th July 2015, Leasowe Lighthouse, Moreton, Wirral. | Photo: © RWD |
The discontinuous pith is white and stringy like candy-floss, but is not sweet. |
Easily mistaken for : the taller Soft Rush with which it shares the moniker of commonest rush in the UK. However Soft Rush is softer, has more glaucous stems, and un-like Hard Rush which has dis-continuous pith inside, it has a continuous pith. Hybridizes with :
Some similarities to : No relation to : Flowering-Rush [a plant with similar name which has pink and white flowers and belongs to a differing family]. Hard Rush grows in moist grassland or clay soils, also in limy soils.
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Juncus | inflexus | ⇐ Global Aspect ⇒ | Juncaceae |
Juncus (Rushes) |
Rushes Family [Juncaceae] |