Grass or grass-like · Juncaceae
Torrey's rush
Juncus torreyi
Torrey's rush is recorded as native to 40 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 970 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Torrey's rush at a glance
- Native in
- 970 counties, across 40 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b PLANTS minimum temperature −38°F
- Mature height
- 3.1 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) Medium water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 3b. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −38°F; zone 3b winters bottom out at −35°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Torrey's rush is recorded as native to 40 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 970 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 970 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 8 counties
- Arizona 12 counties
- Arkansas 12 counties
- California 9 counties
- Colorado 25 counties
- Georgia 1 county
- Idaho 21 counties
- Illinois 83 counties
- Indiana 37 counties
- Iowa 19 counties
- Kansas 101 counties
- Kentucky 17 counties
- Louisiana 17 counties
- Maine 1 county
- Maryland 5 counties
- Michigan 24 counties
- Minnesota 40 counties
- Mississippi 2 counties
- Missouri 64 counties
- Montana 14 counties
- Nebraska 64 counties
- Nevada 9 counties
- New Jersey 6 counties
- New Mexico 10 counties
- New York 29 counties
- North Dakota 43 counties
- Ohio 43 counties
- Oklahoma 34 counties
- Oregon 12 counties
- Pennsylvania 12 counties
- South Dakota 18 counties
- Tennessee 10 counties
- Texas 71 counties
- Utah 26 counties
- Vermont 3 counties
- Virginia 7 counties
- Washington 9 counties
- West Virginia 4 counties
- Wisconsin 31 counties
- Wyoming 17 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
- 3.1 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Rhizomatous
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Long
- Active growth period
- Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- Medium water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- Medium
- Precipitation range
- 14 to 50 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse and medium
- pH range
- 4.5 to 6.5
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Low
- Salinity tolerance
- Low
- Fertility requirement
- Low
- Minimum root depth
- 10 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −38°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 85
- Fire tolerance
- Medium
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Green
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Mid Summer
- 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
- JUTO
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 torreyi (PLANTS symbol JUTO).
- 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