Juncaceae

Rush Family

Baltic Rush

FAMILY: Rush family (Juncaceae) – Juncus genus.

SPECIES: Baltic rush, mountain rush, or wire-grass (Juncus balticus Willd.).

TO UTILIZE AS FOOD: Seeds of Baltic rush were utilized as food by the Owens Valley Paiute Indians. Honeydew was also obtained from upper portions of this plant. Native Americans used rushes primarily for weaving rather than food. The wire-like stems of rushes are suitable for making baskets and other woven items. Baltic rush blooms from May to July and produces tiny black seeds anytime from July to October. In the Southwest, it prefers cool, marshy, mountainous areas.

NOTES: Rushes look like grasses and sedges, but they’re actually more closely related to lilies. Flowers of rushes are wind-pollinated. The petals and sepals (often referred to as tepals or the perianth) look similar. Both are tough, dry, brownish-green, and scale-like. Most grasses lack a perianth and have inconspicuous flowers arranged in spikelets. Flowers of rushes are not arranged in spikelets, and they typically have 6 tepals and 6 stamens. Grasses and sedges typically have 3 stamens. Flowers of rushes, grasses, and sedges usually have stamens and pistils, so the flowers are perfect (hermaphrodite). Fruits and seeds have some noteworthy differences. Rushes produce capsules, each containing 3 to numerous seeds with fleshy endosperms. The seeds are fairly small compared to those of grasses. Sedges produce achenes with distinctive bristles, and grasses produce grains (caryopses).

IDENTIFICATION: Approximately 110 species of the Juncus genus are found in the United States, but few grow in the Southwest. Baltic rush looks like certain bulrushes. The bladeless leaf sheaths are an important feature of this species. Also, flower clusters seem to arise from the side of the stem.

Description of Baltic rush (Juncus balticus): FORM perennial, grass-like plant about 20-95 cm tall emerging from dark rhizomes; STEMS cylindrical, 1-3 mm in diameter, not twisted, not flattened, and set along the rhizomes (rather than clustered); upper stems leafless; LEAVES clustered basally and consisting of sheaths lacking blades; sheaths 3-12 cm long; surfaces hairless; FLOWERS regular, perfect, ovary superior, and arranged in clusters seeming to emerge from the sides of the stems, each cluster with 6-50 or more flowers; each flower solitary and subtended by 2 thin bractlets (prophyllum); main bracts (involucres) round in cross section and appearing as continuations of the stems; perianth parts 6, light brown to blackish, 3-6 mm long, and often with clear margins; pistils 1; stigmas 3, pinkish-purple; stamens 6, yellow; anthers 2-5 times longer than the filaments; FRUITS capsules 3-chambered, splitting lengthwise, somewhat egg-shaped, about 3-5 mm long, and often with a short beak; seeds dark amber and without tail-like appendages; HABITAT moist areas over a wide range of elevations throughout most of western and northern North America; also in Europe, Asia, and South America; blooming May to July. NOTES: Four subspecies are currently recognized by the Integrated Taxonomic Information System.

REFERENCES: Baltic rush (Juncus balticus): seeds Moerman (p. 132).