|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Species Image Gallery (opens in a new window) |
|||||||||
| THE RUSH FAMILY | |||||||||
| The rushes are generally widespread in Saskatchewan in moist habitats such as lakeshores, riverbanks, and sloughs. These plants may look like grasses because the leaves are long and linear. The leaves are in three vertical rows, instead of two vertical rows like in the grasses. The flowers are small and plain. The tepals are usually green or brown and papery in texture. The flowers are clustered into heads and then into branched or unbranched inflorescences. The inflorescences are subtended by bracts. In some species, the bracts are leaf-like and make the inflorescence look like it is coming from the side of the stem instead of the top. The fruit is a capsule. | |||||||||
| INLAND RUSH | |||||||||
| LATIN NAME: Juncus interior var. interior | |||||||||
| WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? | |||||||||
| Inland rush is a tufted plant that grows up to 60 cm tall from a densely branching rhizome. The leaves are all basal and have whitish or purplish-tinged ear-like lobes. The inflorescence can be compact or open. The primary bract is usually shorter than the inflorescence. At the base of each flower and above the flower stalk, are two bracts. The inner and outer tepals are equal in length or the outer are slightly longer. Both sets of tepals are greenish in colour. The seeds do not have a tail. | |||||||||
| WHERE DOES IT GROW? | |||||||||
| Inland rush grows in wet to drying mudflats, slough bottoms, shores, and field depressions. | |||||||||
| WHERE IS IT FOUND IN SASKATCHEWAN? | |||||||||
| This species is found in southern Saskatchewan in the Mixed Grassland, Moist Mixed Grassland, and Aspen Parkland ecoregions. | |||||||||
| WHY IS IT RARE? | |||||||||
| Inland rush is vulnerable in Saskatchewan because it is rare or uncommon. It is somewhat regionally restricted to the southern region of the province. Local population sizes vary. No immediate threats are known at present. | |||||||||
| HOW TO IDENTIFY INLAND RUSH | |||||||||
| * Are there two bracts at the base of each flower? * Are the tepals green? * Are the ear-like lobes at the base of the leaf whitish or purplish? * Did you find it in southern Saskatchewan? | |||||||||
| If you answered yes to all of these questions, you may have found inland rush! | |||||||||
