Field Rush - native (Luzula meridionalis)

Family: Juncaceae (Rush family).

Native.

Occurrence: Common and widespread in heathy dry forests.

Luzula and Juncus are the two groups making up the Rush Family. Luzula differs from Juncus in that field rushes

• are plants of the dry forest
• have a capsule tht is 3 seeded (many-seeded in Juncus)
• have leaves that are hairy with fine white hairs.

There are three varieties that occur in the Castlemaine area.

• Leaves sparsely hairy ..... variety flaccida
• Leaves densely hairy along the margins. Capsule less than or equal to the length of the petals/sepals ... variety meridionalis
• Leaves densely hairy along the margins. Capsule longer than the length of the petals/sepals ... variety densiflora.

Photos: The variety was not recorded at the time of photographing. Photo 2 has capsules longer than the petals-sepals, and so is var. meridionalis. In photo 3, the caspule does not exceeed the petals-sepals and so is variety densiflora. All: Castlemaine.