{{Short description|Species of flowering plant in the rush family}} {{Redirect|Common rush|the plant known as common rush in Australia and New Zealand|Juncus usitatus}}{{Redirect|Soft rush|the plant known as soft rush in North America|Juncus interior}}{{Speciesbox |image = Juncus effuses.jpg |genus = Juncus |species = effusus |authority = L. |synonyms_ref = <ref name="POWO"/> |synonyms = {{collapsible list| * ''Juncus communis'' subsp. ''effusus'' <small>(L.) Čelak.</small> * ''Juncus communis'' proles ''effusus'' <small>(L.) Rouy</small> * ''Juncus communis'' var. ''effusus'' <small>(L.) E.Mey.</small> * ''Juncus conglomeratus'' var. ''effusus'' <small>(L.) Kostel.</small> * ''Juncus laevis'' <small>Wallr.</small> * ''Juncus laevis'' var. ''effusus'' <small>(L.) Wallr.</small> * ''Juncus effusus laxiflorus''<small>Cout.</small> * ''Juncus effusus'' var. ''oblongicarpus'' <small>Vayr.</small> }}}}

'''''Juncus effusus''''' is a perennial herbaceous flowering plant species in the rush family Juncaceae, with the common names '''common rush''' or '''soft rush'''.

==Distribution and habitat== ''Juncus effusus'' has a wide distribution, considered native in Europe, Asia, Africa, Madagascar, North America, and South America. It has naturalized in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and various oceanic islands.<ref name="POWO">{{cite web |work=Plants of the World Online |title=''Juncus effusus'' L. |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:442917-1 |access-date=19 April 2023 }}</ref>

It grows in wet areas, such as wetlands, riparian areas, and marshes with sandy and peaty substrates. It is common throughout the British Isles by rivers, streams and lakes, in wet heathland and pastures,<ref name="BSBI Atlas-2020">{{cite web|title=''Juncus effusus'' L. |work=BSBI Online Plant Atlas 2020 |editor=P.A. Stroh |editor2=T. A. Humphrey |editor3=R.J. Burkmar |editor4=O.L. Pescott |editor5= D.B. Roy |editor6=K.J. Walker |url=https://plantatlas2020.org/atlas/2cd4p9h.59w |access-date=28 April 2023 }}</ref> including purple moor-grass and rush pastures and fen-meadow plant associations.<ref>[http://www.britishwildlife.com/clmindex.asp Conservation Land Management Magazine: "Cutting Rushes" article] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130819023953/http://www.britishwildlife.com/clmindex.asp |date=2013-08-19 }}, Spring 2003, British Wildlife Publishing.</ref>

==Description== {{more citations needed|section|date=April 2023}} ''Juncus effusus'' grows in large clumps up to about {{convert|1.2|m|-1}} tall.<ref name="Stace-2019">{{cite book|last=Stace|first=C. A.|author-link = Stace, C. A.|year=2019|title=New Flora of the British Isles|edition=Fourth|publisher=C & M Floristics|location = Middlewood Green, Suffolk, U.K.| isbn=978-1-5272-2630-2}}</ref>{{rp|984}} The stems are smooth cylinders with light pith filling. The yellowish inflorescence appears to emerge from one side of the stem about {{convert|20|cm|0}} from the top. In fact the stem ends there; the top part is the bract, that continues with only a slight colour-band marking it from the stem. The lower leaves are reduced to a brown sheath at the bottom of the stem.

===Subspecies=== Five subspecies are currently recognized:<ref name="POWO"/> #''Juncus effusus'' subsp. ''austrocalifornicus'' <small>Lint</small> — endemic to California and Baja California.<ref>[http://www.calflora.org/cgi-bin/species_query.cgi?where-taxon=Juncus+effusus+ssp.+austrocalifornicus Calflora: ''Juncus effusus'' subsp. ''austrocalifornicus'']</ref><ref>[https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=80232 Jepson eFlora: ''Juncus effusus'' subsp. ''austrocalifornicus'' ]</ref><ref name="Zika-2003">{{cite journal |author=Peter F.Zika |year=2003 |title=The native subspecies of ''Juncus effusus'' (Juncaceae) in western North America |journal=Brittonia |volume=55 |issue=2 |pages=150–156 |jstor=3218455 |doi=10.1663/0007-196X(2003)055[0150:TNSOJE]2.0.CO;2|s2cid=36919055 }}</ref> #''Juncus effusus'' subsp. ''effusus'' — widespread #''Juncus effusus'' subsp. ''laxus'' <small>(Robyns & Tournay) Snogerup</small> — tropical Africa, Madagascar, Mauritius, Canary Islands, Madeira. #''Juncus effusus'' subsp. ''pacificus'' <small>(Fernald & Wiegand) Piper & Beattie</small> — Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, Idaho, Oregon, California, Baja California.<ref name="Zika-2003"/><ref>[http://www.calflora.org/cgi-bin/species_query.cgi?where-taxon=Juncus+effusus+ssp.+pacificus Calflora: ''Juncus effusus'' subsp. ''pacificus'']</ref><ref>[https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=79529 Jepson: ''Juncus effusus'' subsp. ''pacificus'']</ref> #''Juncus effusus'' subsp. ''solutus'' <small>(Fernald & Wiegand) Hämet-Ahti</small> — central and eastern United States.<ref>[http://plants.usda.gov/plant-profile?symbol=JUEFS USDA: ''Juncus effusus'' subsp. ''solutus'']</ref>

''Juncus effusus'' can be differentiated from the rarer ''Juncus pylaei'' by the number of ridges on the stem. ''Juncus effusus'' has 30 to 40 ridges and ''J.&nbsp;pylaei'' has 10 to 20.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Morton, J.K. |author2=Venn, Joan. M.|year=2000|title=The Flora of Manitoulin Island|series=3rd|volume=edition|journal=University of Waterloo Biology Series N. 40.}}</ref>

==Uses==

===Wildlife=== [[File:Soft Rush with cocoons of Coleophora caespitiella.JPG|right|thumb|Pupal cases of ''Coleophora caespitiella'' on ''J.&nbsp;effusus'']] The species provides wildfowl, wader feeding, and nesting habitats, and also habitats for small mammals. The rootstalks are eaten by muskrats, and birds take shelter amongst the plant's stems. A number of invertebrates feed on soft rush, including the rufous minor moth.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Niering |first1=William A. |author-link1=William Niering| last2=Olmstead |first2=Nancy C. |title=The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers, Eastern Region |year=1985 |orig-year=1979|publisher=Knopf |isbn=0-394-50432-1 |page=568}}</ref>

===Humans=== ''Juncus effusus'' is one of the seven ingredients of hui sup tea (去濕茶).{{citation needed|date=February 2019}} In Japan, this rush is called {{Transliteration|ja|igusa}} ({{Lang|ja|藺草}}) and is grown to be woven into the covering of tatami mats (the filling is rice straw, extruded styrofoam, chip board, or some combination).<ref name="Tatami">{{cite news |title=Structure of Tatami |url=https://kyo-tatami.com/world/about/ |newspaper=Original Kyoto Tatami &#124; Motoyama Tatami Shop &#124; Original Kyoto Tatami Shop |publisher=Motoyama Tatami Shop |access-date=14 June 2021 |date=2015-06-28}}</ref> In Iran and Afghanistan too it is used to weave light cheap mats.{{citation needed|date=June 2024}} It is called halfa ({{Lang|ar|حلفا}}) and has medicinal uses too. In Europe, this rush was once used to make rushlights (by soaking the pith in grease), a cheap alternative to candles.

====Cultivation==== The species is cultivated as an ornamental plant, for planting in water gardens, native plant and wildlife gardens, and for larger designed natural landscaping and habitat restoration projects.

The cultivar ''Juncus effusus'' 'Spiralis' (syn. ''Juncus spiralis''), with the common names corkscrew rush or spiral rush, is a distinctive potted and water garden plant due to its very curled spiral like foliage.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.perennials.com/seeplant.html?item=8.240.200 |title=Heritage Perennials: ''Juncus effusus spiralis'' |access-date=2011-07-13 |archive-date=2011-10-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111004064759/http://www.perennials.com/seeplant.html?item=8.240.200 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Weed control== ''Juncus effusus'' can become a naturalized or invasive species, undesirable in rangelands for its unpalatability to livestock. Suggested methods of controlling rushes include: ploughing; high applications of inorganic fertilizer (can pollute watersheds); and topping to prevent seed formation.

==Chemistry== Juncusol is a 9,10-dihydrophenanthrene found in ''J.&nbsp;effusus''.<ref>{{cite journal | author = Bhattacharyya | journal = Experientia | volume = 36 | date = 1980 | pages = 27–28 | doi=10.1007/bf02003949 | title=Structure of effusol: A new phenolic constituent from ''Juncus effusus''| s2cid = 41731083 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | doi = 10.1016/S0031-9422(00)98276-1| title = Phenanthrene derivatives from the medullae of ''Juncus effusus''| journal = Phytochemistry| volume = 30| issue = 9| pages = 3149| year = 1991| last1 = Shima| first1 = Katsuhito| last2 = Toyota| first2 = Masao| last3 = Asakawa| first3 = Yoshinori| bibcode = 1991PChem..30.3149S}}</ref> The plant also contains effusol<ref>{{Cite journal | doi=10.1071/CH9842111| title=Phenanthrene synthesis: The synthesis of effusol a 9,10-Dihydrophenanthrene from the marsh grass ''Juncus effusus''| journal=Australian Journal of Chemistry| volume=37| issue=10| pages=2111| year=1984| last1=Carvalho| first1=CF| last2=Sargent| first2=MV| last3=Stanojevic| first3=E}}</ref> and dehydroeffusol.<ref>{{Cite journal | doi=10.1055/s-0030-1250517| pmid=21104609| title=Anxiolytic and Sedative Effects of Dehydroeffusol from ''Juncus effusus'' in Mice| journal=Planta Medica| volume=77| issue=5| pages=416–20| year=2010| last1=Liao| first1=You-Jiao| last2=Zhai| first2=Hai-Feng| last3=Zhang| first3=Bing| last4=Duan| first4=Tian-Xuan| last5=Huang| first5=Jian-Mei| s2cid=260248394}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *{{Commons category-inline}} *{{Wikispecies-inline}} *[https://www.calflora.org/app/taxon?crn=4459 Calflora Database: ''Juncus effusus'' (Bog rush, Common bog rush, Common rush)] *[https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=29646 Jepson Manual eFlora (TJM2) treatment of ''Juncus effusus''] *[http://naeb.brit.org/uses/species/2042/ University of Michigan - Dearborn: Native American Ethnobotany of ''Juncus effusus''] *[http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?query_src=photos_index&where-taxon=Juncus+effusus UC CalPhotos gallery of ''Juncus effusus''] *[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/342591952_Short_Note_of_Juncus_effusus_ssp_effusus Radoslaw Walkowiak: ''Short Note of Juncus effusus ssp. effusus'' (CTC PAPER 2020)]

{{Taxonbar|from=Q161677}} {{Authority control}}

effusus Category:Flora of Africa Category:Flora of Europe Category:Flora of Northern America Category:Flora of Southern America Category:Flora of temperate Asia Category:Freshwater plants Category:Garden plants Category:Medicinal plants Category:Plants used in traditional Native American medicine Category:Plants described in 1753 Category:Botanical taxa named by Carl Linnaeus