Grass or grass-like · Juncaceae
Grassleaf rush
Juncus marginatus
Grassleaf rush is recorded as native to 40 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 936 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Grassleaf rush at a glance
- Native in
- 936 counties, across 40 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 5a PLANTS minimum temperature −23°F
- Mature height
- 2 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Sun to part shade Medium water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 5a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −23°F; zone 5a winters bottom out at −20°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Grassleaf rush is recorded as native to 40 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 936 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 936 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 27 counties
- Arizona 3 counties
- Arkansas 43 counties
- California 2 counties
- Colorado 1 county
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 3 counties
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 66 counties
- Georgia 22 counties
- Illinois 30 counties
- Indiana 16 counties
- Kansas 26 counties
- Kentucky 48 counties
- Louisiana 59 counties
- Maine 6 counties
- Maryland 1 county
- Massachusetts 14 counties
- Michigan 8 counties
- Minnesota 1 county
- Mississippi 20 counties
- Missouri 49 counties
- Nebraska 14 counties
- New Hampshire 8 counties
- New Jersey 15 counties
- New York 32 counties
- North Carolina 61 counties
- Ohio 11 counties
- Oklahoma 34 counties
- Oregon 1 county
- Pennsylvania 56 counties
- Rhode Island 3 counties
- South Carolina 16 counties
- South Dakota 1 county
- Tennessee 41 counties
- Texas 81 counties
- Vermont 3 counties
- Virginia 86 counties
- West Virginia 22 counties
- Wisconsin 5 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
- 2 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Rhizomatous
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Long
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intermediate (sun to part shade)
- Moisture use
- Medium water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- Medium
- Precipitation range
- 32 to 55 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse and medium
- pH range
- 5.5 to 6.8
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Low
- Minimum root depth
- 8 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −23°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 5a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 90
- Fire tolerance
- High
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Brown
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Late 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
- JUMA4
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 marginatus (PLANTS symbol JUMA4).
- 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