Juncus tenuis subsp. tenuis
Common name
track rush
Family
Juncaceae
Flora category
Vascular – Exotic
Structural class
Rushes & Allied Plants
Conservation status
Not applicable
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).
FACU: Facultative Upland
Occasionally is a hydrophyte but usually occurs in uplands (non-wetlands).
Similar taxa
Roots fibrous, tufted. Stem 15 to 60 cm tall, slender, round, hollow, wiry, dark green, branching at the top, not jointed. Leaves very narrow, glass-like, mostly at the base of the stems. Flowers small, greenish-brown, with 6 scale-like bracts surrounding the seed pod; borne in clusters of 3 at the tips of the stems. Seed pod nearly egg-shaped, brown, splitting into three sections when mature (Wax, Fawcett and Isely 1981).
Flower colours
Brown, Green
Life cycle
Seeds brown, small about 3mm long, with minute crossline markings (Wax, Fawcett and Isely 1981).
Year naturalised
1922
Origin
N. and S. America
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.