Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Juncus brachycephalus

Juncus nevadensis

small-head rush

Nevada rush, Sierra rush
Habit Herbs, perennial, cespitose, 2–7 dm. Herbs, perennial, rhizomatous, 0.5–7 dm.
Rhizomes

1 mm diam., not swollen.
Culms

erect, 1–4 mm diam., smooth.

erect, terete, 1.5–3 mm diam., smooth.
Cataphylls

1–2, straw-colored to pink, apex acute.

0–1, maroon or straw-colored, apex acute.
Leaves

basal 1–3, cauline 1–2;

auricles 0.6–1.5 mm, apex rounded, scarious;

blade terete to compressed, 0.2–12 cm × 0.5–2 mm.

basal 1–3, cauline 1–2;

auricles 1–3.2 mm, apex rounded to acute, membranaceous;

blade green, laterally flattened, 1.5–31 cm × 0.5–2.2 mm.
Inflorescences

panicles of 5–80 heads, 5–25 cm, branches ascending;

primary bract erect;

heads 2–6-flowered, ellipsoid to obovoid, 2–5 mm diam.

terminal panicles of 2–11 heads, 2–18 cm, branches erect to spreading;

primary bract erect;

heads 3–11-flowered, hemispheric to obpyramidal (rarely nearly spheric), 5–14 mm diam.
Flowers

tepals green to light brown, lanceolate;

outer tepals 1.8–2.5 mm, apex obtuse to nearly acute;

inner tepals 2–2.8 mm, apex obtuse to nearly acute;

stamens 3 or 6, anthers 1/2 filament length.

tepals dark brown to white, lanceolate, apex acute to acuminate, mucro subulate;

outer tepals 2.8–6.2 mm;

inner tepals 2.4–6 mm;

stamens 6, anthers 1–2 times filament length.
Capsules

exserted, chestnut to dark brown, imperfectly 3-locular, obconic, 2.4–3.8 mm, apex acute proximal to beak, valves separating at dehiscence.

included to slightly exserted, chestnut brown, ellipsoid, 2.3–3.7 mm, abruptly contracted to apex, apex acute proximal to beak, valves separating at dehiscence.
Seeds

ellipsoid to fusiform, 0.8–1.2 mm, tailed;

body covered with whitish translucent veil.

ellipsoid, 0.4–0.5 mm, not tailed.
2n

= 80.

Juncus brachycephalus

Juncus nevadensis
Phenology Fruiting summer–early fall. Fruiting early summer–fall.
Habitat Calcareous marshes, wet meadows, and wetland shores Wet banks along margins of streams and lakes, marshes, bogs, sloughs, and wet or boggy prairies
Elevation 100–200 m (300–700 ft) 0–2600 m (0–8500 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; CO; CT; GA; IL; IN; MA; ME; MI; MN; NC; ND; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; TN; VA; VT; WI; WV; NB; NS; ON; QC;
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; SK
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

This variable species has been divided into five separate taxa in the past (F. J. Hermann 1964; C. L. Hitchcock et al. 1955–1969, vol. 1), but more recently, most of the variants have not been separated (A. Cronquist et al. 1972+, vol. 6). The Oregon coastal endemic, Juncus nevadensis var. inventus L. F. Henderson) C. L. Hitchcock, is at one extreme of the variation, having only a single head, fairly dark brown tepals 3.5–4.5 mm, anthers only slightly longer than the filaments, and a distinct habitat. The J. mertensianus var. columbianus segregate, however, approaches var. inventus in number of heads, and the other characters are so highly variable in the complex, they cannot be used alone to separate this variety. Therefore, we are not recognizing any infraspecific taxa at this time.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 22. FNA vol. 22.
Parent taxa Juncaceae > Juncus > subg. Septati Juncaceae > Juncus > subg. Septati
Sibling taxa
J. acuminatus, J. acutiflorus, J. acutus, J. alpinoarticulatus, J. anthelatus, J. arcticus, J. articulatus, J. biglumis, J. bolanderi, J. brachycarpus, J. brachyphyllus, J. brevicaudatus, J. bryoides, J. bufonius, J. bulbosus, J. caesariensis, J. canadensis, J. capillaris, J. capitatus, J. castaneus, J. chlorocephalus, J. compressus, J. confusus, J. cooperi, J. coriaceus, J. covillei, J. debilis, J. dichotomus, J. diffusissimus, J. drummondii, J. dubius, J. dudleyi, J. effusus, J. elliottii, J. ensifolius, J. falcatus, J. filiformis, J. filipendulus, J. georgianus, J. gerardii, J. greenei, J. gymnocarpus, J. hallii, J. hemiendytus, J. howellii, J. inflexus, J. interior, J. kelloggii, J. leiospermus, J. lesueurii, J. longistylis, J. luciensis, J. macrandrus, J. macrophyllus, J. marginatus, J. maritimus, J. megacephalus, J. mertensianus, J. militaris, J. nevadensis, J. nodatus, J. nodosus, J. occidentalis, J. orthophyllus, J. oxymeris, J. parryi, J. patens, J. pelocarpus, J. pervetus, J. phaeocephalus, J. polycephalus, J. regelii, J. repens, J. roemerianus, J. scirpoides, J. secundus, J. squarrosus, J. stygius, J. subcaudatus, J. subtilis, J. supiniformis, J. tenuis, J. texanus, J. textilis, J. tiehmii, J. torreyi, J. trifidus, J. triformis, J. triglumis, J. trigonocarpus, J. uncialis, J. validus, J. vaseyi, J. xiphioides
J. acuminatus, J. acutiflorus, J. acutus, J. alpinoarticulatus, J. anthelatus, J. arcticus, J. articulatus, J. biglumis, J. bolanderi, J. brachycarpus, J. brachycephalus, J. brachyphyllus, J. brevicaudatus, J. bryoides, J. bufonius, J. bulbosus, J. caesariensis, J. canadensis, J. capillaris, J. capitatus, J. castaneus, J. chlorocephalus, J. compressus, J. confusus, J. cooperi, J. coriaceus, J. covillei, J. debilis, J. dichotomus, J. diffusissimus, J. drummondii, J. dubius, J. dudleyi, J. effusus, J. elliottii, J. ensifolius, J. falcatus, J. filiformis, J. filipendulus, J. georgianus, J. gerardii, J. greenei, J. gymnocarpus, J. hallii, J. hemiendytus, J. howellii, J. inflexus, J. interior, J. kelloggii, J. leiospermus, J. lesueurii, J. longistylis, J. luciensis, J. macrandrus, J. macrophyllus, J. marginatus, J. maritimus, J. megacephalus, J. mertensianus, J. militaris, J. nodatus, J. nodosus, J. occidentalis, J. orthophyllus, J. oxymeris, J. parryi, J. patens, J. pelocarpus, J. pervetus, J. phaeocephalus, J. polycephalus, J. regelii, J. repens, J. roemerianus, J. scirpoides, J. secundus, J. squarrosus, J. stygius, J. subcaudatus, J. subtilis, J. supiniformis, J. tenuis, J. texanus, J. textilis, J. tiehmii, J. torreyi, J. trifidus, J. triformis, J. triglumis, J. trigonocarpus, J. uncialis, J. validus, J. vaseyi, J. xiphioides
Synonyms J. canadensis var. brachycephalus J. badius, J. columbianus, J. mertensianuss subsp. gracilis, J. mertensianus var. badius, J. mertensianus var. columbianus, J. mertensianus var. gracilis, J. mertensianus var. suksdorfii, J. nevadensis var. badius, J. nevadensis var. columbianus, J. nevadensis var. inventus, J. phaeocephalus var. gracilis, J. suksdorfii, J. truncatus
Name authority (Engelmann) Buchenau: Botanische Jahrbucher fur Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie 12: 268. (1890) S. Watson: Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 14: 303. (1879)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America, OregonFlora, UW Burke Herbarium

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers