Round Head Rush

Herbs, perennial, rhizomatous, sometimes to nearly cespitose, 4--10 dm. Rhizomes not tuberous, 2 mm diam. Culms erect, terete, 3--5 mm diam., smooth. Cataphylls 0. Leaves: basal 2--3(--6), cauline 1--4; auricles 1--3 mm, apex acute, membranaceous, absent on proximal leaves; blade green, laterally compressed, 9--70 cm x 2--6 mm. Inflorescences terminal panicles of 10--30 heads, 10--30 cm, branches spreading; primary bract erect; heads 20--30-flowered, spheric, (10--)12--15 mm diam. Flowers: tepals green to reddish, lance-subulate, 4--5 mm, apex acuminate; stamens 3, anthers 1/3--1/2 filament length. Capsules exserted, straw-colored, 1-locular, subulate, 4--5,5 mm, tapering to subulate tip, valves separating or not at dehiscence; fertile throughout or only proximal to middle.. Seeds broadly ellipsoid, 0.5--0.6 mm, not tailed; body clear yellow-brown.

Juncus crassifolius Buchenau, Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 12: 326. 1890, not Bosc ex Laharpe (1827)