Scientific name: Juncus gerardii Loisel.
Common name: Saltmarsh Rush
Description
Habit: Annuals to perennials. Often more or less aquatic. Stems slender, up to 60cm high, arising from a creeping rhizome.
Leaves: Leaves various, grass-like to rush-like, glabrous; with 0-2 basal sheaths, 4-5 basal and 0-2 upper cauline leaves, leaves narrow, channelled, flat to subterete.
Flowers: Flowers hermaphrodite, regular, in often crowded cymes; 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. 2/3 as long as perianth, anthers about twice as long as filaments.
Fruits: A capsule with 3 or numerous seeds, subacute to obtuse, about equalling perianth, usually three-angled at apex, obtuse and tipped with a short, sharp abrupt point or rarely acute; seeds 0.4-0.5mm, without appendages.
Habitat: Wet places by the sea.
Distribution: Very frequent.
Native status: Native
Of conservation interest: Yes