{{short description|Species of flowering plant in the rush family Juncaceae}} {{speciesbox | image = Luzula multiflora - Berlin Botanical Garden - IMG 8554.JPG | genus = Luzula | species = multiflora | authority = (Ehrh.) Lej. | synonyms = * ''Juncus campestris'' var. ''multiflorus'' Ehrh. (basionym) * ''Juncus multiflorus'' (Ehrh.) Ehrh. | synonyms_ref = <ref name="GRIN">{{GRIN |access-date=2018-08-01}}</ref> }}
'''''Luzula multiflora''''', the '''common woodrush'''<ref>{{PLANTS|id=LUMU2|taxon=Luzula multiflora|accessdate=24 June 2015}}</ref> or '''heath wood-rush''',<ref name=BSBI07>{{BSBI 2007 |accessdate=2014-10-17 }}</ref> is a species of flowering plant in the rush family.
It is native to Europe, eastern Asia, northern Africa, northern North America, including Canada, and in northern regions of the United States.<ref name="GRIN" /> The native status of common woodrush is under some debate. While ''Flora of North America'' list it as introduced, the more common opinion is it is a circumpolar species native in North America and in parts of Europe and Asia.<ref name="Minnesota">{{Minnesota Wildflowers|grass-sedge-rush/common-woodrush|Luzula multiflora (Common Woodrush) Minnesota Wildflowers|access-date=2020-04-22}}</ref> The taxonomy of the wood rush complex involving several ''Luzula'' spp. has a history of instability. In the past, common woodrush was classified as a variety of a European species, or ''Luzula campestris multiflora''. Both of these species of rush were then also lumped together with another similar species, ''Luzula echinata'' (hedgehog woodrush). As a result, ''Luzula multiflora'' and ''Luzula echinata'' are sometimes confused.<ref name="Illinois">{{Illinois Wildflowers|grasses/plants/cm_wdrush|Common Wood Rush (Luzula multiflora)|access-date=2020-04-22}}</ref> Most of the many woodrushes that grow in North America are rather difficult to tell apart. In spite of the resemblance of rushes and woodrushes to grasses or sedges, they have the same number and arrangement of flower parts as lilies.<ref>{{NPIN|LUMU2|Luzula multiflora}}</ref>
[[File:Luzula multiflora kz2.JPG|thumb|Flowers beginning to open, with stigmas protruding but tepals not yet open, in May near Gniewino, Poland.]] Common woodrush grows {{cvt|10|to|40|cm|in|0}} tall with basal leaves {{cvt|3.5|to|12|cm|in|frac=8}} long and {{cvt|2|to|6|mm|in|2}} wide. The flowers have six brown to black tepals {{cvt|2|to|4|mm|in|2}} long.<ref>{{eFloras|1 |volume=22 |first=Janice Coffey |last=Swab}}</ref>
Common woodrush is fairly easy to identify with its leaves fringed with long, white hairs (common for ''Luzula'' species) and the terminal, spike clusters of 6-parted flowers on variable length stalks, replaced by round capsules starting in late spring.<ref name="Minnesota" /> Common woodrush leaves often turn reddish in response to stressful conditions <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://extension.umaine.edu/blueberries/weed-images/grasses-sedges-rushes/common-woodrush/|title = Common woodrush - Cooperative Extension: Maine Wild Blueberries - University of Maine Cooperative Extension| date=28 July 2024 }}</ref>
''Luzula multiflora'' resembles a grass in its vegetative state, but its seeds and scaly tepals are similar to those of other species in the rush family (Juncaceae). It is also unusual in preferring upland woodland habitats, as most species in the rush family prefer habitats that are more wet and sunny.<ref name="Illinois" /> The habitat for common woodrush is anthropogenic (man-made or disturbed habitats), forest edges, forests, meadows and fields.<ref>{{Go Botany |genus=Luzula |species=multiflora |common=common wood rush |access-date=2020-04-22}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}} * {{cite book |last=Lejeune |first=Alexandre Louis Simon |author-link=Alexandre Louis Simon Lejeune |title=Flore des Environs de Spa <!-- ; ou, Distribution Selon le Système de Linnaeus, des Plantes qui Croissent Spontanément dans le Département de l'Ourte et dans les Départemens Circonvoisins, pour Servir de Suite à la Flore du nord de la France de Mr. Roucel. Liège --> |volume=1 |page=[{{Google Books |id=YhdAAQAAMAAJ |page=169 |plainurl=yes}} 169] |date=1811}}<!-- from IPNI --> * {{cite journal |last=Kirschner |first=J. |date=1990 |title=''Luzula multiflora'' and allied species (Juncaceae): a nomenclatural study |journal=Taxon |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=106–114 |doi=10.2307/1223198|jstor=1223198 |bibcode=1990Taxon..39..106K }} * {{cite journal |last=Kirschner |first=J. |date=2001 |title=(1500) Proposal to conserve the name Luzula multiflora (Juncaceae) |journal=Taxon |volume=50 |pages=1190–1191 |doi=10.2307/1224743|jstor=1224743 }}
==External links== *[http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/servlet/NatureServe?searchSciOrCommonName=Luzula%20multiflora NatureServ: ''Luzula multiflora'' subspecies info-listings] *{{Wikispecies-inline}} {{Commons category|position=left}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q161291}}
multiflora Category:Flora of Canada Category:Flora of the Northern United States Category:Flora of the Northeastern United States Category:Flora of the Northwestern United States Category:Flora of the Southwestern United States Category:Flora of the Appalachian Mountains Category:Flora of the Great Lakes region Category:Flora of the Rocky Mountains Category:Flora of California Category:Plants described in 1794 Category:Flora without expected TNC conservation status Category:Taxa named by Alexandre Louis Simon Lejeune Category:Taxa named by Jakob Friedrich Ehrhart
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