''Juncus effusus'', with the common names common rush or soft rush, is a perennial herbaceous

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

species in the rush family Juncaceae. In North America, the common name soft rush also refers to ''

Juncus interior ''Juncus interior'' is a species of rush. It is known by the common name interior rush, and in its native range also as "soft rush" (which generally refers to ''J. effusus'' outside North America). It is native to the central inlands of North Am ...

''.

Distribution

''Juncus effusus'' is nearly cosmopolitan, considered native in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

, and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

. It has naturalized in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

, and various oceanic islands.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
/ref> It is found growing in wet areas, such as

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

riparian areas A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. Riparian is also the proper nomenclature for one of the terrestrial biomes of the Earth. Plant habitats and communities along the river margins and banks a ...

, and

marsh A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found at ...

es. In the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

it is found in

purple moor-grass and rush pastures Purple moor grass and rush pastures is a type of Biodiversity Action Plan habitat in the UK. It occurs on poorly drained neutral and acidic soils of the lowlands and upland fringe. It is found in the South West of England, especially in Devon. ...

and fen-meadow plant associations.

Description

''Juncus effusus'' grows in large clumps about tall at the water's edge along streams and ditches, but can be invasive anywhere with moist soil. It is commonly found growing in humus-rich areas like marshes, ditches, fens, and beaver dams. The stems are smooth cylinders with light pith filling. The yellowish

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

appears to emerge from one side of the stem about from the top. In fact the stem ends there; the top part is the

bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...

, that continues with only a slight colour-band marking it from the stem. The lower leaves are reduced to a brown sheath at the bottom of the stem.

Subspecies

Five

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

are currently recognized: #''Juncus effusus'' subsp. ''austrocalifornicus'' Lint —

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

and

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

. #''Juncus effusus'' subsp. ''effusus'' — widespread #''Juncus effusus'' subsp. ''laxus'' (Robyns & Tournay) Snogerup — tropical Africa,

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...

Madeira ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthem of the Autonomous Region of Madeira") , song_type = Regional anthem , image_map=EU-Portugal_with_Madeira_circled.svg , map_alt=Location of Madeira , map_caption=Location of Madeira , subdivision_type=Sovereign st ...

. #''Juncus effusus'' subsp. ''pacificus'' (Fernald & Wiegand) Piper & Beattie — Alaska,

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, Washington,

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

, Oregon, California, Baja California. #''Juncus effusus'' subsp. ''solutus'' (Fernald & Wiegand) Hämet-Ahti — central and eastern United States. ''Juncus effusus'' can be differentiated from the rarer ''

Juncus pylaei ''Juncus'' is a genus of monocotyledonous flowering plants, commonly known as rushes. It is the largest genus in the family Juncaceae, containing around 300 species. Description Rushes of the genus ''Juncus'' are herbaceous plant, herbaceous pla ...

'' by the number of ridges on the stem. ''Juncus effusus'' has 30 to 40 ridges and ''J. pylaei'' has 10 to 20.

Uses

Wildlife

Soft Rush with cocoons of Coleophora caespitiella

The species provides wildfowl, wader feeding, and nesting

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s, and also habitats for small mammals. The rootstalks are eaten by

muskrat The muskrat (''Ondatra zibethicus'') is a medium-sized semiaquatic rodent native to North America and an introduced species in parts of Europe, Asia, and South America. The muskrat is found in wetlands over a wide range of climates and habitat ...

s, and birds take shelter amongst the plant's stems. A number of invertebrates feed on soft rush, including the

rufous minor ''Oligia versicolor'', the rufous minor, is a species of moth belonging to the family Noctuidae. The species was Species description, first described by Moritz Balthasar Borkhausen in 1792. It is distributed throughout Europe from Bulgaria up to t ...

moth.

Humans

''Juncus effusus'' is one of the seven ingredients of hui sup tea (去濕茶). In

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, this rush is called (藺草) and is grown to be woven into the covering of tatami mats (the filling is rice straw,

extruded styrofoam Styrofoam is a trademarked brand of closed-cell polystyrene#Extruded polystyrene foam, extruded polystyrene foam (XPS), commonly called "Blue Board", manufactured as foam continuous building insulation board used in walls, roofs, and foundations ...

chip board Particle board, also known as chipboard or low-density fiberboard, is an engineered wood product manufactured from wood chips and a synthetic resin or other suitable binder, which is pressed and extruded. Particle board is often confused with ori ...

, or some combination). In

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

too it is used to weave light cheap mats. It is called halfa (حلفا) and has medicinal uses too. In Europe, this rush was once used to make

rushlight A rushlight is a type of candle or miniature torch formed by soaking the dried pith of the rush plant in fat or grease. For several centuries, rushlights were a common source of artificial light for poor people throughout the British Isles. The ...

s (by soaking the pith in grease), a cheap alternative to

candle A candle is an ignitable wick embedded in wax, or another flammable solid substance such as tallow, that provides light, and in some cases, a fragrance. A candle can also provide heat or a method of keeping time. A person who makes candles i ...

Cultivation

The species is cultivated as an

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that i ...

, for planting in water gardens,

native plant In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often popularised as "with no human intervention") during history. The term is equ ...

and

wildlife garden A wildlife garden (or wild garden) is an environment created by a gardener that serves as a sustainable haven for surrounding wildlife. Wildlife gardens contain a variety of habitats that cater to native and local plants, birds, amphibians, rep ...

s, and for larger designed

natural landscaping Natural landscaping, also called native gardening, is the use of native plants and adapted species, including trees, shrubs, groundcover, and grasses which are local to the geographic area of the garden. Benefits Maintenance Natural landsc ...

and habitat restoration projects. The cultivar ''Juncus effusus'' 'Spiralis' (syn. ''Juncus spiralis''), with the common names corkscrew rush or spiral rush, is a distinctive potted and water garden plant due to its very curled spiral like foliage.

Weed control

''Juncus effusus'' can become a

naturalized Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...

invasive species An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...

, undesirable in rangelands for its unpalatability to livestock. Suggested methods of controlling rushes include: ploughing; high applications of inorganic fertilizer (can pollute watersheds); and

topping Topping may refer to: * Hill-topping, a mate-acquisition strategy amongst insects * Topping, slang term for capital punishment, especially hanging or beheading * Topping (surname), the name of several people * Topping (agriculture), a practice us ...

to prevent seed formation.

Chemistry

Juncusol Juncusol is a 9,10-dihydrophrenathrene found in ''Juncus'' species such as '' J. acutus'', '' J. effusus'' or '' J. roemerianus''. It can also be synthesized. This compound shows antimicrobial activity against ''Bacillus subtilis'' and ''Staphyl ...

is a 9,10-dihydrophenanthrene found in ''J. effusus''. The plant also contains effusol and dehydroeffusol.

References

External links

* *
Calflora Database: ''Juncus effusus'' (Bog rush, Common bog rush, Common rush)Jepson Manual eFlora (TJM2) treatment of ''Juncus effusus''University of Michigan - Dearborn: Native American Ethnobotany of ''Juncus effusus''UC CalPhotos gallery of ''Juncus effusus''Radoslaw Walkowiak: ''Short Note of Juncus effusus ssp. effusus'' (CTC PAPER 2020)
{{Authority control effusus Flora of Africa Flora of Europe Flora of North America Flora of South America Flora of temperate Asia Freshwater plants Garden plants Medicinal plants Plants used in traditional Native American medicine Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus