common name for the family Juncaceae, comprising a small group of flowering plants with inconspicuous flowers, and for its representative genus, Juncus. None of the approximately 325 members of the family produces edible parts, but some are an important source of fibers. Rushes are worldwide in distribution but are most abundant in moist, cool habitats.

Rushes are mostly herbaceous, but one, the palmiet, Prionium serratum, native to South Africa, is a woody shrub. The flowers are adapted to wind pollination and thus have their petals and sepals reduced to inconspicuous scalelike structures. Flower structure indicates that the rushes are related to the order Liliales (see LILY,), although the relationship is not close.

The rush genus, Juncus, is the largest in the family with about 225 species, and its stems produce many useful fibers. One soft-fibered species, the Japanese mat rush, J. effusus, is used in weaving Japanese floor mats called tatami, and it is widely cultivated in Japan for this purpose. This and similar species are also the source of split rushes for chair caning and basket weaving.

The family Juncaceae shares the order Juncales with a small family, Thurniaceae, containing only two species of perennial herbs native to northern South America. Plants in the order Juncales are members of the class Liliopsida (see MONOCOTS,) in the division Magnoliophyta (see ANGIOSPERM).

Other plants commonly called rushes are not members of this family. The bulrush belongs to the genus Scirpus, of the SEDGE, (q.v.) family, Cyperaceae, and the flowering rush is Butomus, of the family Butomaceae (see WATER, Plantain). The scouring rush is Equisetum (see HORSETAIL,).

For further information on this topic, see the Bibliography, section 452. Plants.