Taxonomy
Family: Juncaceae
Habitat
Dry to moist, compacted soil with some shade. Common along paths and other heavily traveled areas.
Associates
Distribution
Throughout
Morphology
Perennial to 30 cm high. Foliage leaves all basal (not including those of the inflorescence); leaves flat, narrow; blades divergent only at or near the base of the stem; margin of leaf sheath protruding at the base of the blade into a friable, scarious, easily fractured auricle 1 mm or more long. Flowers appearing terminal; individual flowers subtended by 2 small opposite bracteoles at the base of the perianth. Fruit unicolular; seeds less than 0.5 mm long, without distinctly caudate white tips; perianth segment mostly exceeding the capsule.
Notes
Flowers in June
Wetland indicator: Facultative Upland +
Can be found in areas that have been mowed, growing only a few cm high but still managing to bloom and set seed.
References
Gleason, Henry A.
and A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States
and Adjacent Canada. Second Ed.
The New York Botanical Garden. Bronx, NY
Swink, F. and G.
Wilhelm. 1994. Plants of the Chicago Region.
Indiana Academy of Science. The Morton Arboretum. Lisle, Illinois.
Michael Hough © 2009 |