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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. | |||||||||
| MUD RUSH | |||||||||
| LATIN NAME: Juncus tracyi | |||||||||
| WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? | |||||||||
| Mud rush grows as tall as 60 cm from creeping rhizomes. There are one to three basal leaves and two to six stem leaves with very short ear-like lobes at the base. The leaf blades appear to have the edge toward the stem. The inflorescence can be branched or unbranched and is made of clusters of two to 20 heads. The main bract is shorter than the inflorescence. The tepals are nearly equal, with the inner row slightly shorter than the outer row. The tepals are green to brown or reddish-brown. The styles are noticeably longer than the tepals. There are six stamens with anthers shorter than the filaments. The capsule is shorter than or only slightly longer than the tepals and has a short point at the top. The seeds have distinct tail-like structures. | |||||||||
| WHERE DOES IT GROW? | |||||||||
| Mud rush grows on gravel shores. | |||||||||
| WHERE IS IT FOUND IN SASKATCHEWAN? | |||||||||
| This species is found in southwestern Saskatchewan in Cypress Upland ecoregion. | |||||||||
| WHY IS IT RARE? | |||||||||
| Mud rush is endangered in Saskatchewan because it is rare and limited to one region of the province. No immediate threats are known for this species at present. | |||||||||
| HOW TO IDENTIFY MUD RUSH | |||||||||
| * Are the anthers shorter than the filaments? * Are the styles longer than the tepals? * Do the seeds have tail-like appendages? * Did you find it in southwestern Saskatchewan? | |||||||||
| If you answered yes to all of these questions, you may have found mud rush! | |||||||||
