Juncus fontanesii
Juncus fontanesii, also known as Desfontaines' rush, is a species of rush in the family Juncaceae. DescriptionResembling a J. articulatus with sprawling stems, or for ssp. brachyanthus mat-forming. Inflorescence is a lax display of spherical heads of flowers. The leaves are tubular with inner cross divisions chambering the leaf into long sections very obvious when opened or dried; there are no lengthwise divisions. The stems, as well as upright ones, sprawl on the ground and in the case of ssp. fontanesii these ground stems are conspicuously long (to 2 m) and frequent, for the others they are at most few, though there are underground rhizomes. The fruit capsule is conspicuously longer than the 6 tepals and for ssp pyramidatus and ssp kotschyi is contracted at the top with a sizeable tip (like J. articulatus but clearly longer, 0.5-1(1.5) mm) whilst for ssp. fontanesii the fruit tip gradually tapers (1–2 mm). The tepals are rather greenish with narrowly acutely pointed tips (not rounded), with the inner 3 tepals longer than the outer 3 (in contrast to J. articulatus where longer tepals are the outer). They are over 3mm (except ssp. brachyanthus). ssp. kotschyi is small (8-15 (rarely 25) cm) with tepals with broad pale margins (ssp. pyramidalis very narrow pale margins). Occasional intermediates between ssp. fontanesii and ssp. pyramidatus are found from Italy eastwards. This is a Mediterranean/West-Asian species; outside that range there may be species resembling it.[2][3] Distribution and habitat
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