Native. Perennial. Propagates by seeds. Time of bloom: June to August. Seed-time: July to September. Range: Throughout North America and most parts of the world. Habitat: Lawns, yards, meadows, and pastures.

One usually thinks of marshy, or at least damp, ground in connection with rushes, but the Slender Rush is common everywhere and seems equally content whether the ground be wet or dry. (Fig. 39.)

Stems thickly tufted, eight inches to two feet tall, extremely thin, round, green, wiry, and so elastic that they are always erect, no matter how much trodden upon by the grazing animals, which refuse to eat them. They have a few grassy base leaves which dry and wither away as the wiry, flowering stems develop. Flowers in irregular clusters between two long, flattened, blade-like leaves at the top of the stem; they have six sharp-pointed, spreading sepals, a single pistil with style very short, and six stamens with anthers much shorter than their filaments. Later, each six-pointed perianth forms a cup to hold the tawny, ovoid, papery-shelled capsule, filled with small brown seeds which, under the lens, are shown to be delicately ridged and cross-lined.

Fig. 39. -Slender Rush (Juncus tenuis). X 1/3.

Means Of Control

In lawns and yards the weed is best removed by hand-pulling before seed development. In fields, small areas may be treated by hoe-cutting, but where rankly infested the ground should be cleansed by a rotation of cultivated crops and clover.