categoryZGrasses Grasses List 

HARD RUSH

Juncus inflexus

Rushes Family [Juncaceae]

month8may month8jun month8june month8jul month8july

category
category8Grasses
 
status
statusZnative
 
flower
flower8brown
 
inner
inner8cream
 
morph
morph8actino
 
petals
petalsZ6
(3+3)
stem
stem8round
 
stem
stem8ribbed
 

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 :

  • Soft Rush (Juncus effusus) but only grew in one hectad and hasn't been seen since 1999.
  • Great Soft Rush (Juncus pallidus) to produce Juncus × diffusus which grows in about 50 hectads.
  • Baltic Rush (Juncus balticus) which grows in just three hectads, near the Sefton or Fyle coastlines.

Some similarities to : Thread Rush (Juncus filiformis), Slender Rush (Juncus tenuis) and to the much taller Great Wood-Rush (Juncus sylvatica).

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.


  Juncus inflexus  ⇐ Global Aspect ⇒ Juncaceae  

Distribution
 family8Rushes family8Juncaceae
 BSBI maps
genus8Juncus
Juncus
(Rushes)

HARD RUSH

Juncus inflexus

Rushes Family [Juncaceae]