SPECIES OF SPECIAL CONCERN 

 Juncus hallii 

 SPECIES INFORMATION 



A. CLASSIFICATION 



1. SCIENTIFIC NAME: Juncus hallii Engelm. 



2. COMMON NAME: Hall's rush 



3. FAMILY: Juncaceae (Rush Family) 



4. GENUS: Juncus is a broadly distributed genus with 



over 200 species (Hitchcock et al. 1969) . There 

 are 28 species in Montana (Dorn 1984) . 



5. SPECIES: Juncus can be a difficult group as many of 



the characteristic structures are minute. Juncus 

 hallii is distinguished by a combination of 

 features. It is a perennial rush with densely 

 clustered, terete stems. The upper leaf blades 

 are flattened and well developed. The 

 inflorescence usually appears to be lateral. This 

 is caused by the lowermost, leaflike, terete 

 involucral bract which exceeds the flowers and 

 generally the inflorescence. The few flowers (1- 

 7) per stem each have a pair of small bracteoles 

 at the base of the perianth segments. The 

 perianth is 3-5 mm long, and the capsules are 

 retuse and the seeds inside are appendaged at both 

 ends. (Adapted from Hitchcock et al. 1969 and 

 Dorn 1984) . 



B. PRESENT LEGAL OR OTHER FORMAL STATUS 



1. FEDERAL STATUS 



a. U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE: None. 



b. U.S. FOREST SERVICE: Sensitive. 



2. STATE: Juncus hallii was ranked as G4G5S1 by the 



Montana Natural Heritage Program (Achuff 1991) . 

 This means that was considered secure on a global 

 basis, but critically imperiled within Montana. 

 Lesica and Shelly (1991a) place the species in the 

 Sensitive status category which indicates that the 

 species is known from a limited number of habitats 

 in Montana or that it occurs primarily in 

 restricted habitats considered vulnerable to man- 



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