Carried by 7 nurseries
View Availability at NurseryData provided by the participants of the Consortium of California Herbaria
View additional distribution information on the Jepson eflora
Spiny rush, sharp rush or sharp-pointed rush is of the monocot family Juncaceae and genus Juncus. It grows in salt marshes and on dunes and is reliable for reducing erosion rates. The stems which emerge from a central cluster have sharp terminal spines. It has been introduced in some countries like Australia where it is considered to be an invasive weed and the spines harmful to young children. In California it is found primarily along the central and southern coast. It is a brown and green "tussocky" perennial that can be to 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) tall in all kinds of soils- in areas which go from extremes in flood and dry like dunes or that just stay wet like lowland grassland and grassy woodland, riparian vegetation, freshwater wetland, and saline and sub-saline wetlands. There is one recognized variety, var. leopoldii, which is rare and included on CNPS List 4.2. This plant is not often used in home gardens because of its terminal spines and its habitat requirements. It is one of several species of Juncus used by native people of California for basket weaving.
Grass
5 ft Tall
5 ft Wide
Fountain
Moderate
Evergreen
None
Brown
Groundcover
Full Sun
Moderate
Keep moist
Easy
Tolerates cold to 25° F
Slow, Standing
Tolerates almost any soil as long as adequate moisture is present.
Tolerates saline soil.,Tolerates sodic soil..
Soil PH: 5.0 - 9.0
For propagating by seed: No treatment.
Seeps, meadows, salt marsh, dunes, and adjacent areas, primarily along the southern coast
Coastal Strand, Wetland-Riparian
Use with plants from similar wet, salty or alkaline places, such as Saltbush (Atriplex spp.), Sedge (Carex spp.), Saltgrass (Distichlis spicata), Beaked Spikerush (Eleocharis rostellata), Palmer's Frankenia (Frankenia palmeri), San Diego Marsh Elder (Iva hayesiana), Baja Desert Thorn (Lycium brevipes)
Butterflies and moths supported
0 confirmed and 3 likely
Mottled Marble
Bactra furfurana
Javelin Moth
Bactra verutana
Yellow-Collared Scape Moth
Cisseps fulvicollis