Juncus gerardii
Family
Juncaceae
Flora category
Vascular – Exotic
Structural class
Rushes & Allied Plants
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
JUNGRD
Conservation status
Not applicable
Habitat
Aquatic: Emergent.
Wetland plant indicator status rating
Information derived from the revised national wetland plant list prepared to assist councils in delineating and monitoring wetlands (Clarkson et al., 2021 Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research Contract Report LC3975 for Hawke’s Bay Regional Council). The national plant list categorises plants by the extent to which they are found in wetlands and not ‘drylands’. The indicator status ratings are OBL (obligate wetland), FACW (facultative wetland), FAC (facultative), FACU (facultative upland), and UPL (obligate upland). If you have suggestions for the Wetland Indicator Status Rating, please contact: [Enable JavaScript to view protected content]
FACW: Facultative Wetland
Usually is a hydrophyte but occasionally found in uplands (non-wetlands).
Features
Sward forming rush with black rhizomes and erect tufts of dull green leaves, to 20 cm long and 1 mm wide. Leaves are stiff and wiry with small, rounded auricles. Stems 40 - 80 cm tall; flowers spread out on open fan-shaped branchlets. Flowers 3-4 mm long with dark tepals; hooded at tip. Light brown broad capsules are about equal to tepals.
Similar taxa
Distinguished by the large patches formed in salt marshes, and the far-reaching black rhizomes, and dark brown to black, blunt-tipped tepals
Flower colours
Brown, Red/Pink
Year naturalised
1891
Origin
Europe, Asia, N. Africa, N. America
Reason for introduction
Accidental
Etymology
juncus: From the Latin jungere ‘to tie or bind’, the stems of some species being used to make cord (Johnson and Smith)
References and further reading
Johnson, A. T. and Smith, H. A (1986). Plant Names Simplified: Their pronunciation, derivation and meaning. Landsman Bookshop Ltd: Buckenhill, UK.