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 macrophyllus

Juncus oxymeris

long-leaf rush, rush

point rush
Habit Herbs, perennial, tufted, 2–10 dm. Herbs, perennial, rhizomatous, 3–6 dm.
Rhizomes

poorly developed.

1–2 mm diam.
Culms

erect, nearly terete to slightly compressed, never rooting at nodes.

erect, 2–4 mm diam.
Cataphylls

0–1, straw-colored, apex narrowly acute.
Leaves

basal several, cauline 1–3;

auricles rounded, 1–3 mm, apex acutish, membranous;

blade pale green, basal blade striate, channeled, basal 1/2–1 times length of culm;

cauline 8–15 cm × 1–3 mm.

basal 1–3, cauline 3–4, straw-colored;

auricles absent;

blade 3–20 cm × 3–7 mm.
Inflorescences

glomerules, 8–25, each with 3–5 flowers, open;

primary bract much shorter than inflorescence.

panicles of 10–50 heads, 6–20 cm, erect to ascending branches;

primary bract erect;

heads 3–11-flowered, turbinate to hemispheric, 4–8 mm diam.
Flowers

tepals greenish with reddish or brown tinge, lanceolate, 5–6 mm, outer series shorter;

stamens 6, filaments 0.5–1 mm, anthers 1.8–2.6 mm;

style 0.5–1 mm.

tepals straw-colored, lanceolate, 2.5–3.2 mm, nearly equal, apex acute to narrowly acuminate, mucronate;

stamens 6, anthers 0.5–1.5 times length of filaments.
Capsules

tan, 3-locular, obovoid, 3–4.5 mm, shorter than perianth.

exserted, chestnut brown, 1-locular, broadly lanceoloid to narrowly oblong, 3.3–4.7 mm, apex tapering to beak, separating at dehiscence.
Seeds

ovoid, 0.6 mm, not tailed.

obovoid, 0.5 mm, not tailed.

Juncus macrophyllus

Juncus oxymeris
Phenology Flowering and fruiting summer. Fruiting late spring–fall.
Habitat Wet banks and meadows in chaparral and low mountains Stream and lake shores, montane meadows and seasonally emergent wetlands
Elevation 700–2600 m (2300–8500 ft) 100–2000 m (300–6600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; NV
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; OR; WA; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Juncus oxymeris should be expected in Mexico (Baja California).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 22. FNA vol. 22.
Parent taxa Juncaceae > Juncus > subg. Graminifolii Juncaceae > Juncus > subg. Ensifolii
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. 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. 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. nevadensis, J. nodatus, J. nodosus, J. occidentalis, J. orthophyllus, 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. canaliculatus, J. longistylis var. scabratus J. acutiflorus
Name authority Coville: University of California Publications in Botany 1: 65. (1902) Engelmann
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