Highland Rush (Jucncus Trifidus, L.)

The habitat of this rush is alpine rocks, damp, rocky mountainous places. The plant has the rush habit. It forms dense, tufted masses of root-stocks and sheaths. The stems are wiry, round, rigid, crowded, slender, erect, with one short, awl-like leaf above. The basal sheaths are awned, the upper with a short leaf. The stem-leaf may be absent, and there may be a second head in the axil. The leaves are awl-like, short, sheath-like. The leaf below the inflorescence has a tubular sheath and membranous margins. There are 1-3, pale-brown flowers, with 2 bristle-like, slender, . leaf-like bracts between. The perianth-segments are long- and narrow pointed, not so long as the capsule, with pale margins. The styles and stigmas are long. The capsule is ovoid, beaked, dark-brown, the seeds large with short appendages. The plant is 6-12 in. high, flowering in July and August, and is a herbaceous perennial.

Highland Wood-Rush (Juncoides (Luzula) spicatum, L.). - The habitat of this plant is highland mountains, humid gravelly detritus, rocky-places. The plant has the wood-rush habit. The plant is slender. The rootstock is tufted, with short stolons. The leaves are slender, shorter than the stem, small, the sheaths hairy, leathery, bent back, narrow, channelled. The stem-leaves are few and short. The flowers are in drooping, dense, oblong, lobed cymes, spike-like, the clusters not so long as the bracts. The partial bracteoles are tapered, membranous, fringed with hairs, bristle-like. The perianth-segments are narrow, long-pointed, bristle-like. The anther-stalks are half as long as the anthers. The capsule is blunt, with oblong seeds, with a white, slight, basal appendage. The plant is 4-12 in. high, flowering in June and July, and is a herbaceous perennial.