Juncus effusus subsp. pacificus

Pacific rush, Pacific Rush

Family: Juncaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Pacific rush is a California native perennial found in the California Floristic Province in seeps, shores, marshes, and generally damp sunny ground at elevations below 2,500 meters. Flowering from late spring to summer, this rush produces pale flowers in open, ascending branch clusters. Growing to 112 centimeters tall with stems 2 to 3 millimeters wide, it has distinctive dark brown to nearly black leaf sheaths with strongly converging veins and thickened, overlapping margins. Its leaf sheaths are generally 6 to 19 centimeters long, with a broadly asymmetrical summit and papillate surface. The fruit is a small oblong capsule approximately 2 to 2.4 millimeters long with three inner chambers.

Habitat: Seeps, shores, marshes, generally damp sunny ground

Elevation: < 2500 m

Bioregions: CA-FP (exc SW)

California counties: Humboldt, El Dorado, Butte, Contra Costa, Fresno, Lake, Marin, Mendocino, Monterey, Plumas, San Joaquin, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Siskiyou, Sonoma, Trinity, Tuolumne, Yuba, Inyo, Kern, Santa Barbara, Amador, Shasta, Tulare, Placer, Mariposa, Tehama, Glenn, Nevada, Napa, Stanislaus, Riverside, Alameda, Sacramento, Colusa, San Luis Obispo, San Francisco, Del Norte, Calaveras, San Diego, Madera

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