Juncus howellii

Howell's rush

Family: Juncaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Howell's rush is a California native perennial found in the Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, northern California Ranges, and northern Sierra Nevada in mountain meadows at elevations of 750 to 2,380 meters. The plant has a distinctive rhizomatous growth, producing multiple stems 15 to 60 centimeters tall with primarily basal leaves. Its slender leaves are flat-sided, 1.4 to 4.5 millimeters wide, with minutely scabrous margins and no visible crosswalls. The rush forms clusters of 5 to 20 small flowers, with perianth parts 5 to 6.5 millimeters long and distinctive dark brown or green midveins. Its seeds are tiny, measuring 0.7 to 1 millimeters long with one or two appendages extending at least half the seed's body length.

Habitat: Meadows

Elevation: 750-2380 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoRH, CaRH, n SNH

California counties: Plumas, Butte, Del Norte, Tehama, Lassen, Nevada, Trinity, Siskiyou, Lake, Shasta, Yuba, Colusa, Glenn, Humboldt, Mendocino, Mono, El Dorado

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