for example, made baskets and mats from the stems of this plant. 

 Because of its abundance, it was often used by the Indian children, 

 when learning to weave. 



RUSHES 



Jun'cus spp. 



Juncus, the largest genus (about 215 species) of the rush family 

 (Juncaceae), is of world-wide distribution, being most abundant in 

 the North Temperate Zone. Jwncus^ the classical name for the rush, 

 is derived from the Latin jungo (meaning join, or bind) and refers 

 to the use of these plants as a binder in matting and basketry. The 

 rushes are grasslike, usually perennial plants, which chiefly occur in 

 swamps or other wet places. The typically unbranched and hairless 

 stems are either scapelike, with all the leaves basal, or else bear 

 some leaves on the stem. The leaf sheaths, when present, are open ; 

 the leaf blades are stiff, with free margins as in the grasses, and are 

 rounded, channeled, or flat and, in some species, are conspicuously 

 cross-partitioned. The clustered flowers are perfect and, though 

 small and homely, essentially lilylike in form; their perianth parts 

 (referred to as sepals and petals by some authors) are greenish 

 or brown and often chaffy, and are in an outer and inner series of 

 three each. The fruit is a one- to three-celled capsule containing 

 from several to many small cinnamon-colored seeds often with tailed 

 appendages. 



Wire rush is representative of the group of species with an ap- 

 parently lateral flower cluster, subtended by a leaf (involucral bract), 

 which appears to be a direct prolongation of the main stem that 

 otherwise is leafless. Rocky Mountain rush (/. saximonta'nus], 

 occurring from Alberta to British Columbia, California, and New 

 Mexico, is a good example of those range rushes which have a 

 terminal flower cluster whose inflorescence leaf does not resemble a 

 continuation of the main stem or, if so, is conspicuously channeled 

 on the upper side. 



In general, the palatability of the more tender species of range 

 rushes ranks as fair to good or occasionally very good for cattle, 

 and as fair or fairly good for sheep. The highest utilization of 

 rushes, as a rule, is obtained with the fine-leaved, meadow type 

 species, especially when growing mixed with other plants rather than 

 in pure stand. 



