Juncus covillei

Coville's rush

Family: Juncaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Coville's rush is a California native perennial found in northwestern California, the Sierra Nevada, northern central Coast Ranges, San Francisco Bay Area, and Transverse Ranges in moist sandy places, montane forests, and along creekbanks at elevations of 300 to 3,000 meters. Flowering in summer, this rush forms dense tufts with slender green to brown stems reaching 5 to 25 centimeters tall. Growing from a long, creeping rhizome with flat basal leaves 2 to 4 millimeters wide, it develops compact clusters of small flowers with brown to green perianth parts. Its leaves typically extend to the top of the plant's inflorescence, with 0 to 2 cauline leaves present. The fruit is widely cylindric, dark in color, with a blunt or slightly notched tip that extends beyond the perianth.

Habitat: Moist sandy places, montane forest, creekbanks

Elevation: 300-3000 m

Bioregions: NW, SN, n CCo, SnFrB, TR

California counties: Los Angeles, Sierra, Siskiyou, Tuolumne, Calaveras, Glenn, Marin, Mariposa, Mendocino, Plumas, Sonoma, Trinity, Yuba, Del Norte, Humboldt, San Bernardino, El Dorado, Monterey, Butte, Lake, Madera, Placer, Tehama, Fresno, Napa, Colusa, Shasta, Mono, Ventura

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