Juncus balticus Willd.   Juncaceae (Rush Family)   Native and Old World                                                   Baltic Rush                                            Wire Rush

                              June Photo

Plant Characteristics: Perennial; stems in small clusters or arising singly from creeping rhizomes; rhizomes scaly, generally unbranched, slender to stout; stems 2-9 dm. tall, strict, terete or compressed, moderately stout; basal leaf sheaths bladeless; panicle lateral, lax, few or many flowered, its branches disposed to be secund; perianth segments, 3.5-5 mm. long, lanceolate; anthers longer than the filaments; sepals +/- = to petals, scarious margins of petals wider than those of sepals; stamens 6; capsule as long or slightly shorter than perianth, beak small but obvious, pale or dark brown; seed 0.4-0.8 mm., appendages none.

Habitat:  Moist places, mostly below 5000 ft.; many Plant Communities; well distributed; N. Am. and Old World.  May-Aug.

Name:  Latin name for rush, perhaps from jungere, to bind, the stems used for binding.  Munz, Flora So. Calif. 909).  Balticus, referring to the plant having been found in the Baltic area of Europe.

General:  Occasional in the study area.  Photographed on the west side of the Delhi Ditch.  (my comments).      The Shoshones of Death Valley and the Mission Indians used the stems of this plant for a brown dye. (Murphy 8).    Seed occurs in commercial lots of lawn grass and in seed rice.  (Robbins et al. 122).        The mottled yellow-brown of basket rush provides a natural colored background for basket making.  (Murphy 1959).  The Chumash, Indians of the Santa Barbara area made baskets with rush stems for the tan color and roots for the black color.  (Timbrook 1997).  The sewing material was made of basket rush (Juncus textilis) and the foundation material was made of Baltic rush (Juncus balticus).  Rushes were cut off at the ground level, or at a desired length.  The rush in its natural state, furnishes several colors, deep red near the base, lightening in color upwards with several shades of light brown and ending at the top with a yellow-brown.  The summer sun will bleach rush stems to a light uniform tan color.  Some southern California basket weavers would dye mature rushes black by steeping them for several hours in an infusion of either horned sea-blite (Suaeda calceoliformis) or bush seepweed (Suaeda moquinii).  Rush species can be died yellow with an infusion of indigo bush (Psorobamnus emoryi).  (Barrows 1977; Merrill 1923).  Rush stems can be harvested throughout the year.  To prepare a stem for basket weaving involves splitting each stalk into three equal segments, the individual pieces are then trimmed to a uniform thickness and soaked in water before weaving begins.  (Stevens, Michelle L., "ETHNOECOLOGY OF SELECTED CALIFORNIA WETLAND PLANTS"  FREMONTIA, A Journal of the California Native Plant Society, Vol. 32, No. 4, October 2004  pp.7-15).See J. acutus for notes on distribution of genus and uses of some species.       Highly variable, intergrading complex needing study.  (Hickman, Ed. 1159).    The 1993 Jepson Manual combines var. montanus with the species thereby eliminating the need note var. balticus, the other listed variety.  (my comment).         The three known colonies on the westerly side of the Upper Bay are all J. balticus, the single known colony in the Santa Ana Heights has been reclassified as J. mexicanus.  (my comment).

Text Ref:  Abrams, Vol. I 354; Hickman, Ed. 1159; Munz, Calif. Flora 351; Munz, Flora So. Calif. 910; Roberts 43.

Photo Ref:  June 6 83 # 16; May-June 85 # 4; April-May 94 # 8A,10A.

Identity: by R. De Ruff confirmed by John Johnson.

First Found:  June 1983.

Computer Ref:  Plant Data 65.

Have plant specimen.

Last edit 3/26/05.

                                              May Photo