Juncus usitatus

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Family Juncaceae

Taxonomy: Juncus usitatus L.A.S.Johnson

Misapplied names: 1 (APC 2026-07-30)

Juncus polyanthemus Buchenau (pro parte misapplied)

Distribution (APC): WA (naturalised), SA (naturalised), Qld, NSW, NI (doubtfully naturalised), ACT, Vic

Profiles: APC, Flora of Australia, ALA, iNaturalist, NSW Flora, SA eFlora, Vic Flora, Florabase, ATRP

Traits

Top source datasets: Catford_2014 (11), Cooper_2013 (9), Hughes_1992 (3), Kew_2019_1 (2), Kew_2019_5 (1), Kew_2019_6 (3), NHNSW_2014_2 (6), NHNSW_2022 (4), NHNSW_2023 (5), NSWFRD_2014 (3), RBGV_2022 (4), RBGV_2023 (7), SAH_2022 (3), SAH_2023 (3), Sjostrom_2006 (3), WAH_2022_2 (3), WAH_2023_2 (2), Wenk_2022 (2), Wenk_2023 (1), White_2020 (20), Williams_2005 (4), Williams_2011 (10). See below for a full list of sources.
Summary: AusTraits contains 47 traits from 109 records in 22 datasets.

Traits by category (click to expand). For categorical traits, the values are listed. For numerical traits, the mean and range are shown.

fire response

resprouting_capacity (categorical): resprouts (2) [sources: NSWFRD_2014; White_2020]
post_fire_recruitment (categorical): post_fire_recruitment_absent (1) [sources: NSWFRD_2014]

flower morphology

flower_colour (categorical): red_brown (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]

fruit morphology

fruit_length (numerical): 1.88 mm (1.5-2 mm) [sources: Cooper_2013; RBGV_2023]
fruit_type (categorical): capsule (5) [sources: Cooper_2013; NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_fleshiness (categorical): dry (2) [sources: Cooper_2013; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_dehiscence (categorical): dehiscent (5) [sources: Cooper_2013; NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023; Sjostrom_2006]
fruit_colour (categorical): brown (2); yellow (2) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023]

leaf morphology

leaf_area (numerical): 508 mm2 (508-508 mm2) [sources: Catford_2014]
leaf_dry_mass (numerical): 126 mg (126-126 mg) [sources: Catford_2014]
leaf_mass_per_area (numerical): 248.03 g/m2 (248.03-248.03 g/m2) [sources: Catford_2014]
leaf_margin (categorical): entire (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
leaf_compoundness (categorical): simple (1) [sources: NHNSW_2014_2]
plant_photosynthetic_organ (categorical): leaf (3) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023; SAH_2023]

life history

photosynthetic_pathway (categorical): c3 (2) [sources: White_2020; Williams_2011]
plant_growth_form (categorical): graminoid (7); herb (6); tussock (2) [sources: Catford_2014; Cooper_2013; Hughes_1992; NHNSW_2022; NSWFRD_2014; RBGV_2022; SAH_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022; White_2020; Williams_2011]
life_form (categorical): geophyte (1); hemicryptophyte (1) [sources: Williams_2005; Williams_2011]
life_history (categorical): perennial (7) [sources: Catford_2014; NHNSW_2022; RBGV_2022; SAH_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2023; Williams_2005]
woodiness_detailed (categorical): herbaceous (5) [sources: NHNSW_2022; RBGV_2022; SAH_2022; WAH_2022_2; Wenk_2022]
stem_growth_habit (categorical): decumbent (1); rhizomatous (3) [sources: Catford_2014; NHNSW_2022; RBGV_2022]
nitrogen_fixing (categorical): non_nitrogen_fixer (2) [sources: White_2020; Williams_2011]
root_structure (categorical): non_mycorrhizal (1) [sources: Williams_2011]
parasitic (categorical): not_parasitic (1) [sources: White_2020]
pollination_syndrome (categorical): abiotic (1) [sources: White_2020]
pollination_system (categorical): abiotic (1) [sources: Williams_2011]
dispersal_syndrome (categorical): anemochory (2); barochory (2); epizoochory (1) [sources: Catford_2014; Kew_2019_5; White_2020; Williams_2005; Williams_2011]
dispersers (categorical): birds (1) [sources: White_2020]
flowering_time (categorical): nnnnnnnnyyyn (1); ynnnnnnnyyyy (1); yynnnnnnnnyy (1); yynnnnnnyyyy (1) [sources: Cooper_2013; Hughes_1992; NHNSW_2014_2; White_2020]
seedbank_longevity_class (categorical): transient (1) [sources: White_2020]
vegetative_reproduction_ability (categorical): not_vegetative (1); vegetative (3) [sources: Catford_2014; NHNSW_2014_2; White_2020; Williams_2005]
clonal_spread_mechanism (categorical): rhizome (1) [sources: Williams_2011]
storage_organ (categorical): rhizome (2) [sources: NHNSW_2023; RBGV_2023]

seed morphology

seed_dry_mass (numerical): 0.01 mg (0.01-0.02 mg) [sources: Catford_2014; Kew_2019_1]

whole plant morphology

plant_height (numerical): 0.95 m (0.6-1.1 m) [sources: Cooper_2013; Hughes_1992; WAH_2023_2]
plant_physical_defence_structures (categorical): absent (1) [sources: White_2020]

Sources

dataset_id	n_traits	n_records	reference
White_2020	20	20	M. White, S. Sinclair, and D. Frood. Victorian Vital Attributes Database. database. Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Victoria, 2020.
Catford_2014	11	11	J. A. Catford, W. K. Morris, P. A. Vesk, C. J. Gippel, and B. J. Downes. “Species and environmental characteristics point to flow regulation and drought as drivers of riparian plant invasion”. Diversity and Distributions 20 (2014), pp. 1084-1096. doi: 10.1111/ddi.12225.
Williams_2011	10	10	R. P. Duncan, S. E. Clemants, R. T. Corlett, A. K. Hahs, M. A. McCarthy, M. J. McDonnell, M. W. Schwartz, K. Thompson, P. A. Vesk, and N. S. G. Williams. “Plant traits and extinction in urban areas: a meta-analysis of 11 cities”. Global Ecology and Biogeography 20.4 (2011), pp. 509-519. doi: 10.1111/j.1466-8238.2010.00633.x.
Cooper_2013	8	9	W. Cooper and W. T. Cooper. Australian rainforest fruits. CSIRO Publishing, 2013, p. 272.
RBGV_2023	6	7	VicFlora. Flora of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2023. url: https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/.
NHNSW_2014_2	6	6	Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. PLantNET: NSW flora online. 2014. url: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
NHNSW_2023	5	5	N. H. of New South Wales. The Plant Information Network System of The Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust Version 2.0.. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2023. url: https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
NHNSW_2022	4	4	N. H. of New South Wales. The Plant Information Network System of The Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust Version 2.0.. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/.
RBGV_2022	4	4	VicFlora. Flora of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/.
Williams_2005	4	4	N. S. G. Williams, J. W. Morgan, M. J. McDonnell, and M. A. McCarthy. “Plant traits and local extinctions in natural grasslands along an urban-rural gradient”. Journal of Ecology 93.6 (2005), pp. 1203-1213. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2745.2005.01039.x.
Hughes_1992	3	3	L. Hughes and B. Rice. “Unpublished data: Traits data for 643 species, Macquarie University”. 1992.
Kew_2019_6	1	3	Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Germination data from the Seed Information Database (SID) and Seed Bank Database. 2019. url: http://data.kew.org/sid/.
NSWFRD_2014	3	3	B. Kenny, C. Orscheg, E. Tasker, M. A. Gill, and R. Bradstock. NSW Flora Fire Response Database, v2.1. database. NSW Department of Planning Industry and Environment, 2014.
SAH_2022	3	3	S. H. of South Australia. eFlora of SA, Electronic Flora of South Australia. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: http://www.flora.sa.gov.au/.
SAH_2023	3	3	S. H. of South Australia. eFlora of SA, Electronic Flora of South Australia. accessed on 6 May, 2022.. 2022. url: http://www.flora.sa.gov.au/.
Sjostrom_2006	3	3	A. Sjöström and C. L. Gross. “Life-history characters and phylogeny are correlated with extinction risk in the Australian angiosperms”. Journal of Biogeography 33.2 (2006), pp. 271-290. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2699.2005.01393.x.
WAH_2022_2	3	3	Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2022. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
Kew_2019_1	1	2	Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Seed Information Database (SID) and Seed Bank Database. 2019. url: http://data.kew.org/sid/.
WAH_2023_2	1	2	Western Australian Herbarium. Florabase—the Western Australian Flora.. accessed on 14 September, 2022.. 2023. url: https://florabase.dpaw.wa.gov.au/.
Wenk_2022	2	2	E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant growth forms dataset”. 2022.
Kew_2019_5	1	1	Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Seed dispersal data from the Seed Information Database (SID) and Seed Bank Database. 2019. url: http://data.kew.org/sid/.
Wenk_2023	1	1	E. Wenk. “Unpublished data: Australian plant life history dataset, University of New South Wales, Sydney”. 2023.