Grass or grass-like · Juncaceae
Toad rush
Juncus bufonius · includes its varieties and subspecies
Toad rush is recorded as native to 43 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 800 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Toad rush at a glance
- Native in
- 800 counties, across 43 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 12a PLANTS minimum temperature 47°F
- Mature height
- 1 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) Medium water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 12a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of 47°F; zone 12a winters bottom out at 50°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Toad rush is recorded as native to 43 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 800 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 800 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 3 counties
- Alaska 16 counties
- Arizona 10 counties
- Arkansas 11 counties
- California 54 counties
- Colorado 23 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Florida 18 counties
- Georgia 4 counties
- Illinois 21 counties
- Indiana 26 counties
- Iowa 1 county
- Kansas 3 counties
- Kentucky 10 counties
- Louisiana 44 counties
- Maine 16 counties
- Maryland 1 county
- Massachusetts 14 counties
- Michigan 45 counties
- Minnesota 23 counties
- Missouri 6 counties
- Montana 20 counties
- Nebraska 20 counties
- New Hampshire 10 counties
- New Jersey 15 counties
- New Mexico 10 counties
- New York 46 counties
- North Carolina 27 counties
- North Dakota 26 counties
- Ohio 15 counties
- Oklahoma 2 counties
- Oregon 28 counties
- Pennsylvania 42 counties
- Rhode Island 3 counties
- South Dakota 4 counties
- Tennessee 2 counties
- Texas 40 counties
- Vermont 12 counties
- Virginia 33 counties
- Washington 33 counties
- West Virginia 5 counties
- Wisconsin 45 counties
- Wyoming 13 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
- Annual
- Mature height
- 1 ft
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Growth form
- Bunch
- Shape
- Semi-Erect
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Active growth period
- Spring, Summer, Fall
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- Medium water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- High
- Precipitation range
- 10 to 55 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse, medium and fine
- pH range
- 4.6 to 7.6
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- Medium
- Fertility requirement
- Low
- Minimum root depth
- 6 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- 47°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 12a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 60
- Fire tolerance
- None
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Green
- 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
- JUBU
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 bufonius (PLANTS symbol JUBU), including 1 variety or subspecies folded into the species.
- 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