Juncus effusus

Soft or lamp rush, Soft Or Lamp Rush

Family: Juncaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Soft rush is a California native perennial found in various bioregions in wet meadows, marshes, and streambanks at low to moderate elevations. Flowering from May to September, this rush produces small pale brown flowers in dense clusters with numerous individual blooms. Growing with stout rhizomes and smooth, shiny stems 60 to 155 centimeters tall, it forms dense tufted clusters in wetland environments. Its stems are notably cylindrical and leafless, with a distinctive smooth and glossy upper surface that rises vertically from a thick base 2 to 5 millimeters wide. The tiny seeds have a minute appendage and are approximately 0.5 millimeters long, contributing to the plant's delicate reproductive strategy.

California counties: San Francisco, Fresno, Monterey, Placer, San Bernardino, Sonoma, Los Angeles, Riverside, Santa Barbara, Sacramento, Kern, San Joaquin, San Diego, El Dorado, Nevada, Calaveras, Trinity, Marin, Santa Cruz, Kings, Contra Costa, Lake, Mendocino, Tuolumne, San Luis Obispo, Humboldt, San Benito, Butte, San Mateo, Amador, Mariposa, Santa Clara, Napa, Alameda, Yuba, Ventura

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