Weeds
Juncus bufonius L. - Toad Rush
Systematic position.
Family Juncaceae, genus Juncus L.Synonyms.
Juncus divaricatus Gilib.Biological group.
Annual weed plant.Morphology and biology.
Plant 5-25 cm high with fibrous thin roots. Culms thin, round, numerous, leaved, heavily ramified from the base upward, erect or ascending. Leaves slender, filamentous, channeled at the base, usually shorter than culms, naked; lower leaf sheaths yellow or reddish. Inflorescence pseudo-dichotomous, bristling or somewhat compact; lower twigs elongated, curved under the flower. Bract almost half as short as inflorescence, rarely equal to it. Flowers usually single, relatively large (3-7 mm); petals slender, pointed, greenish, white-bordered. Perianth leaflets narrow-lanceolate or lanceolate, green, broad-membranous at margin, unequal. Fruit is a capsule, oval or oblong-oval, 3.5-4.5 mm in length and 1.5-2 mm in width. Seeds amber or brownish-yellow, oblong-obovate. Flowering period is June-August.Distribution.
Scandinavia, Western Europe, Mediterranean area, Asia Minor, North America, North Africa; South America and Australia (adventive plant). The European part of the former USSR except Arctic zone, the Caucasus, Western Siberia, Eastern Siberia, the Far East, Central Asia.Ecology.
Likes low-lime, nutrient-rich, dense moist soils.Economic significance.
Weed of rice, grain crops and vegetables, flax; occurring in fallow lands, waste lands, along roads, orchards, kitchen gardens. Control measures include stubbling, deep plowing, soil cultivation, harrowing, chemical weeding.Reference citations:
Bazdyrev, G.I., Zotov, L.I., Polin, V.D. 2004. Weed plants and their control in modern agriculture. Moscow: MSKHA, 288 p. (in Russian).Keller, B.A., Lyubimenko, V.N., Mal'tsev, A.I., etc. 1934. Weed plants of the USSR. V.1. Leningrad: AN SSSR, 324 p. (in Russian).
Nikitin, V.V. 1983. Weed plants of the USSR flora. Leningrad: Nauka, 454 p. (in Russian).
Shishkin, B.K., ed. 1935. Flora of the USSR. V.3. Leningrad: AN SSSR, 636 p. (in Russian).
Ulyanova, T.N. 1988. Weed plants in the flora of Russia and other CIS states. St.-Petersburg: VIR, 344 p. (in Russian).