Juncus laccatus

Shiny rush

Family: Juncaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Shiny rush is a California native perennial found in northwestern California, the high Cascade Range, and northern and central Sierra Nevada in peatlands, wet meadows, shores, and swales at elevations below 2,100 meters. Without specific flowering time data, this rush produces dark brown flowers with distinctive dark brown stripes along the midvein. Growing with dense, clustered stems 45 to 105 centimeters tall and 1.3 to 2.1 millimeters wide, it develops a solid pith and upper stems that are smooth and shiny when fresh. Its leaf sheaths are 3 to 15 centimeters long, medium to dark brown or nearly black, with shiny, smooth surfaces and truncate tips that often split with age. The fruit is a shiny yellow-brown oblong structure 1.8 to 2.4 millimeters long with three inner chambers.

Habitat: Peatland, wet meadows, shores, swales

Elevation: < 2100 m

Bioregions: NW (exc NCoRI), CaRH, n&ampc SNH

California counties: Plumas, Tehama, Tulare, Tuolumne, Yuba, Butte, Humboldt, Mariposa, El Dorado, Sonoma, Amador, Mendocino, Trinity, Lassen, Lake, Colusa, Del Norte

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