Plant Guide > Grasses > Bog Rush

Bog Rush

Bog RushJuncus effusus

The largest of our common species is the Bog Rush (Juncus effusus) which grows in clumps in moist places and is so often seen by waysides and in low meadows.

The round stems, stiffly erect, are from two to four feet in height, and are filled with soft, white pith.

The stem is leafless, and several inches below the pointed tip hangs a many-flowered cluster of green blossoms which seems to have burst from the stem, though, in reality, the upright portion above the blossoms is a leaf of the inflorescence, and as this leaf appears as a continuation of the stem it causes the flower cluster to seem lateral.

The Bog Rush is one of the few meadow plants that remain green until late autumm, and even in winter we may often notice low tufts of the dark-green stems by winding brooks.

The Jointed Rushes are peculiar in that the interior hollow portion of their leaves is divided by horizontal, membranous partitions which, as joints, or knots, may be plainly felt when a leaf is drawn through the hand. The leaves in the majority of the species of jointed Rushes are round.