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Juncus phaeocephalus
Also called Brown-head Rush, Brown Headed Rush, Brownheaded Rush
Juncus phaeocephalus, the brown-headed rush, is native mostly along the coast of California, north to Oregon and Washington. It grows in moist seeps and shallow wet soil.
According to the tests made on the plants at the Chemistry Laboratory of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, Juncus phaeocephalus has as much as 30 ppm of hydrocyanic acid present in the plants. Due to its volatile nature, the concentration of this chemical might have been greater before the actual testing was made.
One actual case of hydrocyanic acid poisoning from a common rush occurred in California. In December 1958, two dairy heifers were found dead on a farm land near Petaluma, Sonoma County. The heifers died due to consumption of Juncus phaeocephalus plants. Juncus phaeocephalus grows in plant communities with Verbena spp., Mimulus guttatus, Eleocharis macrostachya and Agrostis densiflora.
Juncus phaeocephalus is native to the coastlines of California. It is distributed in meadows and borders of swamps and coastal regions from Los Angeles County and Mendocino County to Oregon and Washington.
Dwarf Rush · Rush · Tapertip rush · Sharpflower rush · Spiny rush · Northern green rush · Antarctic rush · Arctic rush · Jointleaf rush · Austral Rush · Mexican Rush · Baltic Rush
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Juncus phaeocephalus by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
