Plant Guide > Grasses > Yard Rush

Yard Rush

Yard RushJuncus tenuis

Yard Rush (Juncus tenuis), common in country dooryards and by footpaths, seems to thrive best when it is trodden under foot each day.

This rush grows in low-spreading clumps of wiry, glistening stems which are leafless except at the base from whence numerous narrow leaves rise.

The leaves are shorter than the stems, but the inflorescence is much exceeded by the lowest involucral leaf which is usually from three to seven inches long.

Through June, July, and August the plant is in bloom and the tiny flowers, scattered along, the branches of the inflorescence, or crowded at their tips, are like pale stars.

The perianth, green on its outer surface, is whitish within, and the six short anthers and the feathery stigmas are also white. The flowers are widely open in the early hours of the morning but close during the heat of the day.