Yard Rush (Juncus tenuis)

Yard Rush
Juncus tenuis

Common in damp roadside ditches in this area

Wrong species - check the web on Juncus tenuis and it looks completely different from this picture - the actual species will grow in dry locations and look more like grasses - also seed head is smaller and tightly clumped.

Can you point me in the right direction to identify properly? A link?

Thanks.

Actually I am not a expert on Juncus - I was looking for a name for one plant that I picked up last year - and I remember the name as being Path - either sedge or rush, and there were a planting of those at the Minnesota State Fair either last year or two years ago that strongly resembles what I had so I tried Dave's Garden first and then I internet search - I thought 90% it was sedge - there are some species that live in damp conditions - I learned that from my taxomony class but then there it was Path Rush and it look like what I had. I will try to find more information for you - I will have to leave soon. At first I thought it was Yellow nutsedge but it's not - it look like a common species that live in wetland but I will have to check my books - I don't even have a common name yet.

I can't find any other species that look like this - maybe the brown seedheads was what made me think it was a different species as the other pictures online I have seen is with green seedhead, just not as numerous as the current picture. (sigh). Maybe I have no evidences. I looked in Field Guides Books on wildflowers and weeds as the other books most likely won't even cover this field other than corkscrew rush - it is just like quillworts, by the way is a fern allies that look like grasses but is next to nil in knowledge. Internet information is sadly lacking in rush information with only three being the best known - Bur - Rush, Common Rush(also called Soft Rush), and Yard/Path Rush. Even Yard/Path Rush usually had one picture every website or brief description.

Just out of curiousity what is the stem like? Juncus have round stems when seen cut while sedges have three sides. Also sedges have many different speces with very roughly the equal numbers of species as grasses in temperature and boreal regions. I am searching Dave's Garden and maybe other websites on sedges: Flat - sedge (at least 20 to 30 species on Dave's Garden, few have pictures) caught my eyes but the flower shape look wrong so I'm trying general sedges now.

Ah I found it! Umbrella Sedge - Cyperus (sp?) - there are quite some species - it is the same genus as flat - sedge and yellow nutsedge. I had burned out my brain trying to find out which Umbrella Sedge it is. The picture most like your is Cyperus eragrostis but where it lives is pretty vague: All I saw were California (native) and Australia (invasive) so maybe it is not approximate for your area (Mediterran Climate? in contract to Kentucky) . The common name Umbrella Sedge is loosely thrown around - even one website list Yellow Nutsedge as Umbrella Sedge as the common name.

I'll get some more shots of it this weekend. Sedge makes sense...we have an overabundance of them here.

West KY does have freezing winters, but rarely snow. 0* F is about as bad as it gets, and that is seldom enough to make it the topic of conversation when it happens.

I'm jealous - Minn at least -20 on average for the Twin Cities during the worst of winter - ignore the sterotype about conifer forests, mooses, and bears - those are in the North 1/3 of the state - the Twin Cities are classify as in the south 1/3 of the state - this winter were "old fashion winter" - the trees are still growing their leaves as of now but most of the time - from 1990s throught 2007 it was milder winter - last year spring was unusual by began into early March and trees leaf out in mid April instead of early May and the first frost was in November due to the hotter than usual summer. So far the past two years had been topic of conversions - hot summer with drought as bad as 1988, three fall months (Aug throught Oct) of rain that erased the drought completely and had all year's worth of rain in three months, colder than usual winter and spring, lots of rains this spring so far - I'm still watching what would happen this summer - hope we didn't get another drought the way things are going. At least you are out of the drought last year - I heard there are still a small pocket around Atlanta, GA and Florida are redeveloping their annual drought again. This year had been bipolar for the West US, East US - West US had been hotter and drier than usual with droughts even as close as the Dakotas while the East US had been wetter than usual and colder except for Texas.

Melody (and Malus)
It is for certain that the plant in the picture is a member of Cyperaceae. The very obvious-dead-give-away is the leaf bract in the flower head!!! There is a strong "fold" or what would be an edge on one side of the leaf.

There is one way to remember- "sedges have edges, rushes do not". All sedges have distinct edges to the leaf and stem. The stems are more or less sharply tringular. Sedge seed is usually larger, produced singly in florets while the Juncus seed is produced in larger quantities in small dome like "pods". The seed of Juncus tenuis is fine enough to require a magnifying glass to view although not quite as small as spores from ferns or fungi.

The perennial Juncus "tenuis" or Path Rush as commonly called has very "tenuis" stems. Almost hairlike with loose to somewhat tighter branched inflorescence with clusters of florets. The very tight tufts of leaves can be as low as an inch or even less(particularly in paths that get regular traffic). When blooming in marshy meadows the height can be as much as 2 feet! The difference in growing situations has them looking like two different plants!

A similar plant to Path Rush is Toad Rush. Toad Rush or J. bufonius (bufo- means toad) I am not sure why the name but maybe the time the toads are breeding the edges of pools of water may be covered with Toad Rush! Toad Rush is an annual but superficially resembles a young Path Rush.

Contrary to many of the "umbrella" sedges or Genus Cyperus Juncus tenuis is probably never weedy. For one thing its normally small compact stature makes it pretty much a non-competitor with most plants. It also thrives where other plants would be hard pressed to get very far! This is an ideal plant for poorly drained soil, gaps between pavers, or even in a rock garden where cracks in rocks have built up organic material! I do not know if it has hit the world of Bonsai culturists but its adaptability to very stressful environments should make it an ideal candidate as long as in a heavy soil that does not dry out completely.

I must state emphatically here that the plant that is currently being sold in the nursery trade as Juncus tenuis Blue Darts is absolutely wrong!!!! Other than being in the same Genus the simularity ends! I believe that it may be Juncus inflexus or something similar.

I am certainly not a botanist or horticultural expert but I challenge anyone out there to prove to me that Juncus tenuis Blue Darts is really Juncus tenuis!!!

Michael