Scientific name: Juncus squarrosus L.
Common name: Heath Rush
Description
Habit: Annuals to perennials. Often more or less aquatic. Up to 50cm high, densely tufted, stems stiff, slender, erect, leafless.
Leaves: Leaves various, grass-like to rush-like, glabrous; with a basal rosette of many leaves and rarely one cauline leaf or leafless sheath, basal leaves short, stiff, shining and channelled, 7-30cm x 1-2mm, subcoriaceous, canaliculate, with auricles of varying length.
Flowers: Flowers hermaphrodite, regular, in often crowded cymes that are terminal but often appear lateral; 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, rarely 3, c. 1/2 as long as perianth, anthers 2.5-6 times as long as filaments.
Fruits: A capsule with 3 or numerous seeds, equalling perianth, ovoid to ellipsoid, obtuse, tipped with a short, sharp abrupt point; seeds 0.6-0.8mm.
Habitat: Moors and other moist, peaty places.
Distribution: Very frequent in mountain districts, rather rare elsewhere.
Native status: Native
Of conservation interest: No