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 subg. Juncus

Juncus maritimus

sea rush, seaside rush
Habit Herbs, perennial, rhizomatous. Herbs, perennial, 5–10 dm.
Rhizomes

thick.
Culms

closely set along rhizomes, 2–3.5 mm diam.
Stems

terete.

Cataphylls

3–5.
Leaves

basal;

blade terete, not septate.

basal, 2–4;

auricles absent;

blade terete, 40–60 cm × 1–2 mm.
Inflorescences

terminal (sometimes appearing lateral) panicles of few to many heads, sympodial;

bracteoles absent proximal to perianth.

glomerules, to 100, each with 2–4 flowers, congested to open, 5–19 × 2–5 cm;

primary bracts somewhat inflated, usually surpassing inflorescence.
Flowers

in few-flowered heads.

tepals straw-colored;

outer series 2.8–2.9 mm, apex acute;

inner series elliptic, 2.3–2.5 mm, apex obtuse;

stamens 6, 1.4–1.9 mm, anthers 2 times length of filaments;

style 1–1.2 mm.
Capsules

3-locular or pseudo-3-locular.

straw-colored, 3-locular, ovoid to ellipsoid, 2.5–3.5 × 1.2– × 1.5 mm, nearly equal to slightly exceeding perianth.
Seeds

usually tailed (not tailed in J. roemerianus).

brown, ellipsoid, body 0.6–0.7 mm, tails 0.5–1.2 mm.
2n

= 40, 48.

Juncus subg. Juncus

Juncus maritimus
Phenology Flowering and fruiting summer.
Habitat Coastal salt marshes, saline meadows, and sand dunes
Distribution
Worldwide; coastal in North America
from FNA
NY; Europe; Asia; Africa [Introduced in North America]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Species 9 (4 in the flora).

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

It is believed that this species has not been collected in North America since the late 1800s, when it was known to occur on Long Island, New York.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Capsules 3.5–5 mm; plants of sw United States.
→ 2
1. Capsules less than 3.5 mm, shorter than or nearly equal to perianth; plants of ne United States Atlantic Coast.
→ 3
2. Capsules nearly globose, obviously longer than perianth
J. acutus subsp. leopoldii
2. Capsules ellipsoid, nearly equal to or shorter than perianth
J. cooperi
3. Capsules nearly equal to perianth; seeds tailed
J. maritimus
3. Capsules distinctly shorter than perianth; seed not tailed
J. roemerianus
Source FNA vol. 22. FNA vol. 22.
Parent taxa Juncaceae > Juncus Juncaceae > Juncus > subg. Juncus
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. macrophyllus, J. marginatus, 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
Subordinate taxa
J. acutus subsp. leopoldii, J. cooperi, J. maritimus, J. roemerianus
Synonyms J. section Acuti, J. section Juncastrum, J. section Maritimi, J. section Thalassii, J. subg. Juncastrum, J. subg. Thalassii
Name authority unknown Lamarck: in J. Lamarck et al., Encycl. 3: 264. (1789)
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

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