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 dubius

Juncus nevadensis

dubius rush, mariposa rush, questionable rush

Nevada rush, Sierra rush
Habit Herbs, perennial, rhizomatous, 3–7.5 dm. Herbs, perennial, rhizomatous, 0.5–7 dm.
Rhizomes

2–3 mm diam., not swollen.

1 mm diam., not swollen.
Culms

erect, terete, 2–4 mm diam., smooth or rugulose.

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

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

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

basal 1–2, cauline 1–2;

auricles 1–4.9 mm, , apex rounded, membranaceous;

blade green to straw-colored, terete, 20–30 cm × 1.5–4 mm, rugulose or smooth.

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

terminal panicles of 25–66 heads, 7–13 cm, branches spreading;

primary bract erect;

heads 6–10-flowered, hemispheric to obovoid, 5–10 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 straw-colored to brown, lanceolate, apex acuminate;

outer tepals (2–)2.5–3.4 mm;

inner tepals (2–)2.6–3.6 mm;

stamens 6, anthers 1.5–2 times 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 brown, 1-locular, subuloidsubulate, (2.4–)3–3.9 mm, apex tapering to subulate tip, 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

obovoid, 0.3–0.4 mm, not tailed.

ellipsoid, 0.4–0.5 mm, not tailed.
2n

= 40.

Juncus dubius

Juncus nevadensis
Phenology Fruiting early summer–late fall. Fruiting early summer–fall.
Habitat Montane meadows, riverbeds, canyons, aroyos Wet banks along margins of streams and lakes, marshes, bogs, sloughs, and wet or boggy prairies
Elevation 100–1600 m (300–5200 ft) 0–2600 m (0–8500 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA
[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

Juncus dubius has rugulose stems and leaves throughout most of its range, but on the periphery (in Mariposa, San Diego, and Sonoma counties, California) the plants are smooth.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

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. 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. 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. rugulosus 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 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 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