''Juncus compressus'' is a species of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. They include all forbs (flowering plants without a woody stem), grasses and grass-like plants, a vast majority of ...

in the rush family,

Juncaceae Juncaceae is a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the rush family. It consists of 8 genera and about 464 known species of slow-growing, rhizomatous, herbaceous monocotyledonous plants that may superficially resemble grasses and s ...

. It is native to temperate

Eurasia Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelag ...

.''Juncus compressus'' is easy to confuse with ''J. gerardii.''

Description

About 80 cm in height. Rhizomes are short-creeping or densely branching. There are 1-3

cataphyll In plant morphology, a cataphyll (sometimes also called a ''cataphyllum'' or cataphyll leafJackson, Benjamin, Daydon; A Glossary of Botanic Terms with their Derivation and Accent; Published by Gerald Duckworth & Co. London, 4th ed 1928) is a reduce ...

s, and 1-2 leaves. The leaf blade is flat to slightly channeled, measuring 5–35 cm long and 0.8–2 mm wide. Inflorescences consist of 5-60 flowers. Flowers have six stamens, with filaments measuring 0.5-0.7 mm and anthers 0.6–1 mm. Seed capsules are brown.

Habitat

''Juncus compressus'' prefers

calcareous Calcareous () is an adjective meaning "mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate", in other words, containing lime or being chalky. The term is used in a wide variety of scientific disciplines. In zoology ''Calcareous'' is used as an a ...

wetlands and is often associated with disturbed habitats, such as ditches, roadsides, railroads, and canal banks.

Invasive species

The plant is considered an

invasive species in the United States Invasive species are a significant threat to many native habitats and species of the United States and a significant cost to agriculture, forestry, and recreation. The term "invasive species" can refer to introduced/naturalized species, feral sp ...

of America.

References

compressus Flora of Europe Flora of Asia {{Poales-stub