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  4. Juncus planifolius

Juncus planifolius

Pauanui, February.<br>Photographer: John Smith-Dodsworth, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>.
Fruit. Te Marua, Upper Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 15/04/2007, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Leaf bases. Stokes Valley, Lower Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 12/08/2007, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Proliferous fruit. Stokes Valley, Lower Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 12/08/2007, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Stokes Valley, Lower Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 15/08/2007, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Proliferous fruit. Stokes Valley, Lower Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 12/08/2007, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
In shade of forest canopy. Te Marua, Upper Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 14/04/2007, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
In shade of forest canopy. Te Marua, Upper Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 14/04/2007, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Leaf bases. Te Marua, Upper Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 14/04/2007, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Fruiting inflorescence. Te Marua, Upper Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 14/04/2007, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Stokes Valley, Lower Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 02/01/2017, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Stokes Valley, Lower Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 02/01/2017, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Stokes Valley, Lower Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 03/12/2017, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
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Common name

grass-leaved rush

Synonyms

Juncus planifolius var. chathamicus Buch.

Family

Juncaceae

Authority

Juncus planifolius R.Br.

Flora category

Vascular – Native

Endemic taxon

No

Endemic genus

No

Endemic family

No

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.

JUNPLA

Current conservation status

  • Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017

The threat classification status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2017 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS) – more information about this can be found on the NZTCS website This report includes a statistical summary and brief notes on changes since 2012 and replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Authors: By Peter J. de Lange, Jeremy R. Rolfe, John W. Barkla, Shannel P. Courtney, Paul D. Champion, Leon R. Perrie, Sarah M. Beadel, Kerry A. Ford, Ilse Breitwieser, Ines Schönberger, Rowan Hindmarsh-Walls, Peter B. Heenan and Kate Ladley. Please note, threat classifications are often suggested by authors when publications fall between NZTCS assessment periods – a suggested threat classification status has not been assessed by the NZTCS panel.

Source: NZTCS and licensed by DOC for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.

2017 | Not Threatened | Qualifiers: SO

Previous conservation statuses

2012 | Not Threatened

2009 | Not Threatened

2004 | Not Threatened

Distribution

Indigenous. North, South, Stewart and Chatham Islands. Also Australia, Hawaii and South America.

Habitat

Coastal to montane (up to 1000 m a.s.l.) in open, moist ground. Often found on fresh exposed damp clay, or along track sides or on the margins of drains. A common urban weed which has naturalised in the northern Hemisphere.

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).

FACW: Facultative Wetland

Usually is a hydrophyte but occasionally found in uplands (non-wetlands).

Features

Bright green, yellow-green to wine-red, tufted, grass-like perennial herb of rather variable stature. Stems 20.0-900.0 x 0.5-1.5 mm. Leaves numerous, all basal, up to 100 mm x 8 mm, usually less than stem, solid, flat, non-septate, lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, tapered gradually from base to the slightly dilated, acute, usually mucronate apex; sheaths broad without auricles, mostly pink-coloured, rarely cream. Inflorescence terminal, umbel-like and irregularly branched. Flowers numerous, 1.5-2.0 mm long, crowded in globose or hemispherical clusters at the ends of the numerous branchlets; tepals more or less equal, the outer acuminate, inner acute, all with light green centres and red-brown to wine-red margins. Stamens 3(-6). Capsule equal to or very slightly > tepals, lustrous brown to brownish-black, ovoid, mucronate.

Similar taxa

Easily recognised by the usually many-flowered, umbel-like inflorescence and flat leaves; flower clusters up to 5 mm diameter and 2 mm long capsules. In a sterile state it could be mistaken for Luzula (wood rushes) but the leaves lack the characteristic sparse to densely villous margins typical of that genus. Juncus planifolius has a superficial similarity to J. caespiticius E.Meyer in Lehm., with which it occasionally grows. It differs from that species by its flat, not channelled leaves, and open umbellate rather than compact globose inflorescence. The flower heads of J. planifolius are often proliferous or infected by the powdery grey or bluish smut (Sorosporium piluliformis (Berkeley) McAlpine).

Flowering

August - April

Flower colours

Green, Red/Pink

Fruiting

October - June

Life cycle

Mucilaginous seeds are dispersed by attachment, wind and water (Thorsen et al., 2009).

Propagation technique

Easy from fresh seed. Inclined to be invasive, and indeed occasionally seen as an urban weed of roadside blocked gutters.

Etymology

juncus: From the Latin jungere ‘to tie or bind’, the stems of some species being used to make cord (Johnson and Smith)

planifolius: From the Latin planum ‘flat surface’ and folius ‘leaf, meaning a flat leaf

Where To Buy

Not commercially available

Attribution

Fact Sheet prepared for NZPCN by P.J. de Lange (1 September 2006). Description based on Moore & Edgar (1970).

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.

Moore, L.B.; Edgar, E. 1970: Flora of New Zealand. Vol. I. Government Printer, Wellington.

Thorsen, M. J.; Dickinson, K. J. M.; Seddon, P. J. 2009. Seed dispersal systems in the New Zealand flora. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 11: 285-309

NZPCN Fact Sheet citation

Please cite as: de Lange, P.J. (Year at time of access): Juncus planifolius Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/juncus-planifolius/ (Date website was queried)

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