Juncus inflexusL.

European meadow rushHard Rushhard rush

WFO wfo-0000776625 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Juncus inflexus, photographed by Wolfgang Jauch
fig. a Wolfgang Jauch, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-06-12 / obs. 205718429

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

The specimen a real sheet, in a real collection

Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Accession
K001527143
Filed as
Juncus inflexus L.
Det. by
Christenhusz, M.J.M.
Collected
Christenhusz, M.J.M. 2023-05-30
Origin
GB
The sheet
View the digitised specimen (CC BY 4.0)

A real pressed plant, in a real collection, under the accession number above. Not an illustration of one. The holding institution does not serve this sheet’s image to third parties, so there is no photograph here. The record is real and the link goes to it. Where we hold no openly licensed sheet for a species this section is simply absent, and where a sheet never recorded who determined it, that field stays empty rather than being filled in. Roughly half of all herbarium sheets never recorded a determiner, which is ordinary.

Native range 74 botanical countries

Regions where Juncus inflexus is native: Algeria, Canary Is., Cape Provinces, DR Congo, Free State, Lesotho, Madagascar, Madeira, Morocco, Tunisia, Afghanistan, China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Lebanon-Syria, Mongolia, North Caucasus, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sinai, Tadzhikistan, Tibet, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Xinjiang, Yemen, Assam, East Himalaya, India, Pakistan, West Himalaya, Albania, Austria, Baleares, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, Corse, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, East European Russia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Kriti, Krym, Netherlands, Northwest European Russia, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sardegna, Sicilia, South European Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye-in-Europe, Ukraine AlgeriaCape ProvincesDR CongoFree StateLesothoMadagascarMoroccoTunisiaAfghanistanChina North-CentralChina South-CentralChina SoutheastCyprusEast Aegean Is.IranIraqKazakhstanKirgizstanLebanon-SyriaMongoliaNorth CaucasusPalestineSaudi ArabiaSinaiTadzhikistanTibetTranscaucasusTürkiyeTurkmenistanUzbekistanXinjiangYemenAssamEast HimalayaIndiaPakistanWest HimalayaAlbaniaAustriaBaltic StatesBelarusBelgiumBulgariaCentral European RussiaCorseCzechia-SlovakiaDenmarkEast European RussiaFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryIrelandItalyKritiKrymNetherlandsNorthwest European RussiaNW. Balkan Pen.PolandPortugalRomaniaSiciliaSouth European RussiaSpainSwedenSwitzerlandTürkiye-in-EuropeUkraine Canary Is.MadeiraBalearesSardegna
Native distribution of Juncus inflexus, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Albania ALB EUROPE
Austria AUT
Baleares BAL
Baltic States BLT
Belarus BLR
Belgium BGM
Bulgaria BUL
Central European Russia RUC
Corse COR
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
Denmark DEN
East European Russia RUE
France FRA
Germany GER
Great Britain GRB
Greece GRC
Hungary HUN
Ireland IRE
Italy ITA
Kriti KRI
Krym KRY
Netherlands NET
Northwest European Russia RUW
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Portugal POR
Romania ROM
Sardegna SAR
Sicilia SIC
South European Russia RUS
Spain SPA
Sweden SWE
Switzerland SWI
Türkiye-in-Europe TUE
Ukraine UKR
Afghanistan AFG ASIA-TEMPERATE
China North-Central CHN
China South-Central CHC
China Southeast CHS
Cyprus CYP
East Aegean Is. EAI
Iran IRN
Iraq IRQ
Kazakhstan KAZ
Kirgizstan KGZ
Lebanon-Syria LBS
Mongolia MON
North Caucasus NCS
Palestine PAL
Saudi Arabia SAU
Sinai SIN
Tadzhikistan TZK
Tibet CHT
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR
Turkmenistan TKM
Uzbekistan UZB
Xinjiang CHX
Yemen YEM
Algeria ALG AFRICA
Canary Is. CNY
Cape Provinces CPP
DR Congo ZAI
Free State OFS
Lesotho LES
Madagascar MDG
Madeira MDR
Morocco MOR
Tunisia TUN
Assam ASS ASIA-TROPICAL
East Himalaya EHM
India IND
Pakistan PAK
West Himalaya WHM

Not drawn on the map: Great Britain. We hold no public-domain boundary for this region, so it is listed rather than guessed at.

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Flowering 34 in flower of 161 examined

Proportion of examined Juncus inflexus in flower, by month
Month In flower Examined Share 95% interval
Jan 0 7 0% 0% to 35%
Feb 0 4 too few examined
Mar 1 4 too few examined
Apr 0 9 0% 0% to 30%
May 9 13 69% 42% to 87%
Jun 14 27 52% 34% to 69%
Jul 7 22 32% 16% to 53%
Aug 2 21 10% 3% to 29%
Sep 1 19 5% 1% to 25%
Oct 0 17 0% 0% to 18%
Nov 0 12 0% 0% to 24%
Dec 0 6 0% 0% to 39%

Peak flowering in May. Each bar is the share of Juncus inflexus observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 34 of 161 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. 2 months have fewer than 5 examined observations, so no proportion is drawn for them. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Where it actually grows measured, from 2,034 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -9.6 °C -1.2 °C 3.7 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 18.4 °C 22.5 °C 28.4 °C
Annual rainfall 556 mm 798 mm 1,560 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 76 mm 149 mm 285 mm

It is found where winters bring hard frost. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 2,034 research-grade observations of Juncus inflexus that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one. Climate from CHELSA V2.1 (Karger et al. 2017); occurrences from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 80 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Juncus acutissimus (Buchenau) Adamson
  • Juncus angelisii Ten.
  • Juncus brachytepalus Trautv. ex V.I.Krecz. & Gontsch.
  • Juncus cyprius H.Lindb.
  • Juncus deangelisii Ten.
  • Juncus deangelisii Bertol.
  • Juncus depauperatus Ten.
  • Juncus diaphramarius Brot.
  • Juncus elatus Steud.
  • Juncus equisetosus Dumort.
  • Juncus glaucescens Laharpe
  • Juncus glaucus Sibth.
  • Juncus glaucus Ehrh. ex Wahlenb.
  • Juncus glaucus Ehrh. ex G.Gaertn., B.Mey. & Scherb.
  • Juncus glaucus f. macrocarpus Zapał.
  • Juncus glaucus f. virescens Neuman
  • Juncus glaucus subsp. angelisii (Ten.) Arcang.
  • Juncus glaucus subsp. depauperatus (Ten.) K.Richt.
  • Juncus glaucus subsp. depauperatus (Ten.) Arcang.
  • Juncus glaucus subsp. longicornis (Bastard) K.Richt.
  • Juncus glaucus subsp. paniculatus (Hoppe ex Schult. & Schult.f.) Trab.
  • Juncus glaucus unranked aggregatus Asch. & Graebn.
  • Juncus glaucus unranked brunneus Asch. & Graebn.
  • Juncus glaucus unranked curvatus Asch. & Graebn.

and 56 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.