Scientific name: Juncus bufonius L.
Common name: Toad Rush
Description
Habit: A small pale green annual with fibrous roots and numerous slender, erect or spreading, tufted stems up to 35cm high.
Leaves: Leaves various, grass-like to rush-like, glabrous, all basal, linear and entire, similar to the stems, except a few of the lowest which are reduced to membranous sheaths, very slender, channelled, 1-12cm x 0.5-2mm, flat, often with slightly convolute margins.
Flowers: Flowers hermaphrodite, regular, in a much-branched, leafy panicle occupying much of the plant, inflorescence variable, with flowers well-spaced to tightly bunched as branchlet ends; perianth inconspicuous, membranous, whitish or brownish, consisting of 6 free segments in two whorls of 3; ovary 1-3-celled, with many ovules, style 0 or 1, stigmas 3, linear; stamens 6, c. 1/3-1/2 as long as perianth, anthers 2/5 as long as filaments. Flowers often cleistogamous.
Fruits: A capsule with 3 or numerous seeds, (3-)3.5-5mm, shorter than perianth, ovoid to almost ellipsoid, acute to obtuse, very variable in colour; style usually persisting as a short beak; seed smooth or very faintly ridged, 0.4-0.55mm, ellipsoid usually apiculate at base and apex, smooth or finely striate.
Habitat: Damp, muddy places.
Distribution: Abundant.
Native status: Native
Of conservation interest: No