Dudley'S Rush (Juncus dudleyi)
Description
Compact or loose branching clusters at the top of the stem, the branches erect to ascending; loose clusters are few flowered, compact clusters with up to 80 flowers. The lowest branch is subtended by an erect, leaf-like bract that usually rises well above the uppermost cluster. Flowers are single at the ends of short stalks, not in heads of 2 or more, nearly stalkless when clusters are compact and longer stalked when clusters are looser. Flowers have 6 tepals (petals and similar sepals) in 2 layers, 4 to 5 mm long, the inner and outer tepals about equal in size and shape, pointed at the tip and green to orange-brown with white papery edging. Flowers have a 3-parted style and 6 stamens, the anthers (tips) slightly shorter than the filament (stalk).Leaves and stems: Leaf attachment: basal Leaf type: simple[photo of thickened auricle, fresh and dried] A flowering stem has 2 or 3 alternate leaves near the base of the stem. Leaves are 2 to 12 inches long, up to 1mm wide, not much more than half as long as the flowering stem, more or less flat in cross-section though sometimes the edges are rolled in (involute). The sheath is open at the front. At the tip of the sheath is a pair of rounded lobes (auricles) .2 to .5 mm long, thickened (not papery), shiny, and often yellowish. Stems are round in cross-section, smooth, erect, unbranched, single or a few from the base and creating loose clumps and/or colonies from spreading rhizomes.Fruit: Fruit type: capsule/pod[photo of fruit] The tepals persist and become brown and ascending to spreading in fruit. Fruit is an elliptic, single-chambered capsule 2.9 to 3.6 mm long, brown to red-brown when mature, about as long as or slightly shorter than the tepals. Inside the capsule are numerous tiny seeds, elliptic to crescent-shaped, .4 to .7mm long, amber colored when mature with a white stub at the tip but no elongated tails.
Taxonomic tree
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Domain: Eukarya
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Kingdom: Plantae
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Phylum: Magnoliophyta
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Class: Liliopsida
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Order: Poales
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Family: Juncaceae
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Genus: Juncus
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