Field Key to VCR Plant Species
Subsection IX. Grasses, Rushes, and Sedges with Round Stems and
Flower Branches Forking from One Point at the Top of the Stem
- 1a. Flowers are lined continuously along the branches with no space between them; stems
jointed, hollow between joints (Grasses); radiate like fingers; plant crawls along by
stolons; plant low to the ground (10-30 cm. tall), forms mats.....Bermuda Grass, Cynodon dactylon
(CYNDCT).
- 1b. Flowers are lined along the branches (either individually or in clumps)
with spaces between them; stems without joints, eilher hollow or mostly solid;
flowers with 3 petals and 3 sepals, arranged in a circle; fruit a small 3-parted
capsule that stays on the plant for most of the season (Rushes).
- 2a. Flowers single on the branches, though often in clusters.
- 3a. Bracts longer than inflorescence.
- 4a. Bracts curly, extending mostly laterally off the stem; stem wiry:
grows in more-or-less dense pale green to drab tussocks (clumps)
5-60 cm. tall.....Path Rush, Juncus tenuis
(JNCTNS).
- 4b. Single bract overtopping inflorescence, looking like a continuation
of the stem, one-third to equal to length of stem; perianth with firm
leathery spreading-ascending lustrous sepals and petals; grows in
tough tussocks 30-90 cm. tall.....Leathery Rush, Juncus coriaceus
(JNCCRC).
- 3b. Bracts short or nonexistent.
- 5a. Inflorescence one-third the size of the plant; stems thin and wiry;
flowers relatively few and scattered on each branch; short thin leaves-
grows 5-35 cm. tall.....Toad Rush, Juncus bufonius
(JNCBFN).
- 5b. Inflorescence smaller compared to rest of the plant.
- 6a. Leaves flat; scales of the fruit shorter than fruit and rounded; large patches of it will often look brown from a distance.....Black Grass, Juncus gerardi
(JNCGRR).
- 6b. Leaves slender, round (cylindrical), and channeled on the
upper side; scales of fruit as long as fruit and pointed; flower
branches straight and long.....Forked Rush, Juncus dichotomus
(JNCDCH).
- 2b. Flowers in heads or bunches on the branches.
- 7a. Flower branches weak and limp, definitely drooping; tips of stems and stem-like leaves very hard and sharp (enough to puncture skin); stems and leaves
knee- to shoulder-high, usually in dark-green or dark-gray colonies which
look about the same year round.....Needlerush, Juncus roemarianus
(JNCRMR).
- 7b. Flower branches mostly stiff, straight, and erect.
- 8a. Stem stout, thick at base, 60-140 cm. tall; rhizome coarse. knotty,
with or without thick and short flnger-like stiff offsets; leaves
hard and firm, the basal ones 4-7 mm. wide.....Rush, Juncus biflorus
(JNCBFL).
- 8b. Stem slender.
- 9a. Flowering heads spherical, densely-packed, pale green
to brown; rhizome thick, horizontal, whitish; flowering
branches often elongate; heads also sometimes appear
lobed or fused together.....Rush, Juncus scirpoides
(JNCSCP).
- 9b. Flowering heads not spherical. rather few and large
(5-10 mm. broad), greenish to straw-colored; seed pointed at each end; plant up to 1 m. tall.
- 10a. Scales as long as fruit.....Sharp Fruited Rush, Juncus acuminatus
(JNCACM).
- 10b. Scales shorter than fruit; fruit narrower than that of
J. acuminatus.....Rush, Juncus debilis
(JNCDBL).
- 1c. Flowers are in clusters at the end of the branches; flower stalks radiate
from one point and may radiate out again.
- 11a. Bracts present; stems solid (Sedges).
- 12a. Bracts usually leafy and longer than inflorescence; spikelets not oval or
oblong on flowering branches that droop as they extend; stem obscurely
triangular; bracts long and leafy.....Woolgrass, Scirpus Cyperinus
(SCRCYP).
- 12b. Bracts usually not much longer than inflorescence spikelets oval- or
oblong-shaped on straight erect branches; stems from less than knee-
high to waist-high, usually in clumps with many wiry basal leaves:
ripe seeds brown.....Saltmarsh Fimbristylis, Fimbristylis spadicea
(FMBSPD).
- 11b. Bracts missing; stems jointed and hollow between joints (Grass); spikelets silvery.
small with two teeth at the tip and one long awn; plant looks like a delicate little
tree with an open crown.....Hair Grass, Aira elegans
(ARELGN).
- 11c. Bracts variously present or missing; spikelets are rush-like flowerslfruits.....
see 2b. above.
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