Juncus orthophyllus

Straightleaved rush

Family: Juncaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Straightleaved rush is a California native perennial found in northern California, the Cascade Range, northern Sierra Nevada, Transverse Ranges, Peninsular Ranges, and desert mountains in inland wet places like meadows and streambanks at elevations of 1,200 to 3,500 meters. Flowering from May to July, this rush produces brown and green flowers in small clusters with 6 to 10 flowers. Growing with erect stems 20 to 50 centimeters tall, it develops from a dark, scaly, creeping rhizome. Its leaves are primarily basal, flat-sided, 2 to 6 millimeters wide, with cauline leaves sparse and minimal. The fruit is slightly shorter than the perianth, with a small beak and tiny brown seeds measuring 0.4 to 0.6 millimeters.

Habitat: Inland wet places, especially meadows, streambanks in forest

Elevation: 1200-3500 m

Bioregions: NCoRO, NCoRH, CaR, n SNF, SNH, TR, PR (Santa Ana Mtns), MP (exc Wrn), SNE (exc W&ampI), DMtns

California counties: Plumas, San Bernardino, Alpine, Mono, Nevada, Shasta, Tehama, Tuolumne, Tulare, El Dorado, Fresno, Lassen, Madera, Mariposa, Modoc, Placer, Siskiyou, Sonoma, Inyo, Butte, Mendocino, Sierra, Yuba, Trinity, Napa, Los Angeles, Calaveras, San Luis Obispo, Del Norte, Humboldt, Santa Barbara

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