Juncus mexicanus

Mexican rush

Family: Juncaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Mexican rush is a California native perennial found in coastal and montane meadows at elevations up to 3,800 meters. Flowering with white to brown-tinged flowers, this rush produces small clusters with variable midstripe intensity and scarious margins. Growing 10 to 60 centimeters tall with a heavy rhizome, it develops erect or spirally twisted stems that are slender and flattened. Its basal leaves have loose sheaths, with some upper sheaths bearing blades up to 20 centimeters long that resemble the stem itself. The fruit is ovoid and three-angled, with a tiny beak less than half a millimeter long.

Habitat: Common. Coast to montane meadows

Elevation: < 3800 m

Bioregions: CA

California counties: Los Angeles, Mono, San Bernardino, Fresno, Kern, Riverside, San Diego, Butte, Glenn, Inyo, Lake, Marin, Mariposa, Monterey, Sacramento, Santa Clara, Shasta, Siskiyou, Sonoma, Tulare, Alpine, Contra Costa, Lassen, Madera, Plumas, Tuolumne, Ventura, Orange, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, El Dorado, Sierra, Sutter, Modoc, Santa Cruz, Nevada, Amador, Solano, Alameda, Merced, San Joaquin, Humboldt, Placer, Colusa, Napa, San Benito

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