Juncus acuminatus Michx.
Strictly erect tufted perennial, commonly reddish-tinged. Stems 30-80 cm high, distinctly septate internally just below inflorescence. Leaves terete or ± compressed with distinct transverse septa. Inflorescence very variable, 3-20 cm long, open, much-branched with 6-10-flowered clusters at ends of branches. Tepals 2.5-3.5 mm long, ± equal, narrow-lanceolate, stiff, acuminate. Stamens 3. Capsules 2.5-3.5 mm long, = or slightly > tepals, narrow, acute, shortly beaked, straw-coloured to brown.
N. North Auckland; South Auckland; Bay of Plenty; Wellington - Mangamawhitiwhiti Stream (Kaimanawas), Manawatu. S. Nelson - N.W. Nelson, Buller; Westland; Canterbury - Sockburn (Christchurch), Lake Pukaki. Scattered in very damp, little improved pastures or in swampy places. (N. and S. America)
First record: Cheeseman 1920: 16 as "J. acutiflorus Ehr."
First collection: "Whanganui, wet ground in shallow ditch", K.W. Allison, Jan. 1915 (CHR 329920).
Commonly confused with J. articulatus, J. acuminatus differs in being strictly erect, with stems transversely septate below the heads, tepals long-acuminate (not acute), stamens 3 (not 6), and capsules straw-coloured to brown (not black). The somewhat similar J. canadensis is distinguished by long-tailed seeds and green stems, and J. microcephalus by 6 stamens and broad capsules with depressed top.
J. acuminatus was not recognised in N.Z. for some 40 years after its first collection because it is similar to J. articulatus and often grows with that sp.: its actual distribution and abundance are almost certainly greater than at present known.
