Juncus acuminatus

Tapered rush, Tapered Rush

Family: Juncaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Tapered rush is a California native perennial found in northern coastal, Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, northern Sierra Nevada, Great Valley, and San Francisco Bay Area regions in shoreline and swale habitats at elevations generally below 1,300 meters. Forming dense tufted clusters with cylindrical leaf blades, this rush produces light brown to green flowers with narrow, pointed perianth parts. Growing 20 to 80 centimeters tall with a short rhizome, it has distinctively spreading branch clusters typically containing 6 to 50 flowers. Its leaves emerge primarily from the base, with leaf sheaths featuring rounded appendages 1.5 to 5 millimeters long. The plant produces light brown to red fruits that are generally equal to or shorter than the perianth, with tiny seeds less than half a millimeter long.

Habitat: Shores, swales

Elevation: generally < 1300 m

Bioregions: NCo, KR, NCoRI, CaRF, n SN, GV, SnFrB

California counties: Fresno, Merced, Butte, Plumas, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Calaveras, Yuba, Nevada, El Dorado, Mendocino, Kings, Shasta, Contra Costa, Tehama, Glenn, Sierra, Napa, Santa Cruz, Del Norte, Solano, Madera, Stanislaus, Trinity, Siskiyou, Placer, Mariposa, San Bernardino, Monterey

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.