Grass or grass-like · Juncaceae
Tapertip rush
Juncus acuminatus
Tapertip rush is recorded as native to 41 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,083 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Tapertip rush at a glance
- Native in
- 1,083 counties, across 41 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a PLANTS minimum temperature −33°F
- Mature height
- 3 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Sun to part shade High water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 4a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −33°F; zone 4a winters bottom out at −30°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Tapertip rush is recorded as native to 41 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,083 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 1,083 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 24 counties
- Arizona 4 counties
- Arkansas 29 counties
- California 15 counties
- Colorado 1 county
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 2 counties
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 12 counties
- Georgia 34 counties
- Idaho 4 counties
- Illinois 64 counties
- Indiana 48 counties
- Iowa 2 counties
- Kansas 16 counties
- Kentucky 62 counties
- Louisiana 57 counties
- Maine 9 counties
- Massachusetts 14 counties
- Michigan 32 counties
- Minnesota 1 county
- Mississippi 8 counties
- Missouri 62 counties
- New Hampshire 6 counties
- New Jersey 19 counties
- New Mexico 1 county
- New York 40 counties
- North Carolina 88 counties
- Ohio 41 counties
- Oklahoma 16 counties
- Oregon 18 counties
- Pennsylvania 61 counties
- Rhode Island 4 counties
- South Carolina 25 counties
- Tennessee 61 counties
- Texas 36 counties
- Vermont 3 counties
- Virginia 92 counties
- Washington 23 counties
- West Virginia 33 counties
- Wisconsin 15 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Graminoid
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 3 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Bunch
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intermediate (sun to part shade)
- Moisture use
- High water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- High
- Precipitation range
- 16 to 55 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse, medium and fine
- pH range
- 4.4 to 7.2
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 12 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −33°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 80
- Fire tolerance
- High
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Purple
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Juncaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- JUAC
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Juncus acuminatus (PLANTS symbol JUAC).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources