Juncus confusus

Colorado rush

Family: Juncaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Colorado rush is a California native perennial found in the Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, high Cascade Range, northern and central Sierra Nevada, and Warner Mountains in meadows within conifer forest at elevations of 1,200 to 2,000 meters. Flowering in summer, this plant produces small straw-colored flowers with dark lateral stripes in compact clusters. Growing with slender, light green stems 30 to 50 centimeters tall, it forms dense tufted clumps characteristic of cespitose perennials. Its basal leaves are thread-like, less than two-thirds the stem length, with inrolled margins and thin white sheath appendages measuring 0.2 to 1 millimeters long. The fruit is an oblong capsule with three chambers, slightly shorter than the perianth and deeply notched at the tip.

Habitat: Meadows in conifer forest

Elevation: 1200-2000 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoRI, CaRH, n&ampc SNH, Wrn

California counties: Lassen, Sierra, Tuolumne, Alpine, El Dorado, Mono, Plumas, Siskiyou, Nevada, Amador, Modoc, Trinity, Placer, Humboldt, San Mateo, Shasta, Lake, Mariposa

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