Slender Rush

 

Scientific Name: Juncus tenuis Willd. 

Family: Juncaceae

 

MORPHOLOGY

 

Habit and dimensions: Perennial herbaceous plant, ranging from 5 to 25 cm in height.

 

Stem: Herbaceous stem, provided with inflorescence bracts, erect and cylindrical-compressed.

 

Leaves: Basal leaves are filiform, flat, and soft (1 mm), with dark sheaths.

 

Flowers: The inflorescence is a poor panicle, with elongated branches, surpassed by two filiform bracts. Flowers are actinomorphic; the perianth is brown-chestnut and composed of 6 tepals (from 2.5 to 4 mm). Blooms from May to July.

 

Fruits and seeds: The fruit is a loculicidal capsule, straw-yellow and shorter than the tepals.

 

DISTRIBUTION AND HABITAT

 

An invasive allochthonous species of North American origin, present from Tuscany and Marche upwards, found in paths, rural roads, uncultivated land, clearings, forest roads, gravel and stone quarries, and even in humid forests. From sea level up to 1.500m.

 

Photo: Not subject to licensing by Saxifraga, Peter Meininger, Rutger Barendse.