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Species Image Gallery (opens in a new window) |
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| 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. | |||||||||
| SLENDER-STEMMED RUSH | |||||||||
| LATIN NAME: Juncus mertensianus | |||||||||
| WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? | |||||||||
| Slender-stemmed rush grows 5 to 40 cm tall from branched rhizomes. The stems are loosely to densely tufted. There are one or two basal leaves and occasionally one leaf on the stem. The basal sheaths are brown or purplish. The ear-like lobes at the base of the leaf are membranous. The inflorescence is a terminal head; occasionally there may be a second, smaller, stalked head below. The heads are typically 12 to 60-flowered. The dark brown to black tepals are all about the same length, though the inner tepals may be slightly shorter than the outer. There are six stamens in each flower and the anthers are much shorter than the filaments. The capsules are shorter than or just slightly longer than the tepals and are chestnut brown in colour. The seeds are yellowish-brown and do not have a tail. | |||||||||
| WHERE DOES IT GROW? | |||||||||
| Slender-stemmed rush grows in wet meadows. | |||||||||
| WHERE IS IT FOUND IN SASKATCHEWAN? | |||||||||
| This species is found in southwestern Saskatchewan in Cypress Upland ecoregion. | |||||||||
| WHY IS IT RARE? | |||||||||
| Slender-stemmed rush is threatened in Saskatchewan because it is rare or uncommon and is limited to the Cypress Hills. | |||||||||
| HOW TO IDENTIFY SLENDER-STEMMED RUSH | |||||||||
| * Are the heads solitary? * Are the tepals dark brown to black? * Are the seeds lacking a tail? * Did you find it in southwestern Saskatchewan? | |||||||||
| If you answered yes to all of these questions, you may have found slender-stemmed rush! | |||||||||
