Editing Juncus (section)

==Description==
Rushes of the genus ''Juncus'' are [[herbaceous plant|herbaceous]] plants that superficially resemble [[Poaceae|grasses]] or [[sedge]]s.<ref name="Yakandawala">{{cite journal |author1=D. M. D. Yakandawala |author2=U. M. Sirisena |author3=M. D. Dassanayake |year=2005 |title=Two new records of ''Juncus'' species (rush family – Juncaceae) in Sri Lanka |journal=[[Ceylon Journal of Science]] |volume=33 |pages=67–76 |url=http://dl.nsf.ac.lk/bitstream/1/7650/2/CJS(B.S)-33-67.pdf }}{{Dead link|date=December 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> They have historically received little attention from botanists; in his 1819 [[monograph]], [[James Ebenezer Bicheno]] described the genus as "obscure and uninviting".<ref>{{cite journal |author=James Ebenezer Bicheno |year=1819 |title=XVII. Observations on the Linnean genus ''Juncus'', with the characters of those species, which have been found growing wild in Great Britain |journal=[[Transactions of the Linnean Society of London]] |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=291–337 |doi=10.1111/j.1095-8339.1817.tb00229.x|author-link=James Ebenezer Bicheno |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/partpdf/25447 }}</ref>

The form of the flower differentiates rushes from grasses or sedges. The flowers of ''Juncus'' comprise five [[whorl (botany)|whorls]] of floral parts: three sepals, three petals (or, taken together, six tepals), two to six [[stamen]]s (in two whorls) and a [[stigma (botany)|stigma]] with three lobes.<ref name="Yakandawala"/> The stems are round in cross-section, unlike those of [[sedge]]s,<ref name="Yakandawala"/> which are typically somewhat triangular in cross-section.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Peter W. Ball |author2=A. A. Reznicek |author3=David F. Murray |chapter=210. Cyperaceae Jussieu |editor=Flora of North America Committee |title=Magnoliophyta: Commelinidae (in part): Cyperaceae|series=[[Flora of North America]]|date=27 February 2003 |volume=23|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|isbn=978-0-19-515207-4 |chapter-url=http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=10246}}</ref>

In ''Juncus'' section ''Juncotypus'' (formerly called ''Juncus'' subg. ''Genuini''),<ref name="Kirschner"/> which contains some of the most widespread and familiar species, the leaves are reduced to sheaths around the base of the stem and the [[bract]] subtending the inflorescence closely resembles a continuation of the stem, giving the appearance that the inflorescence is lateral.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=K. L. Wilson |author2=L. A. S. Johnson |year=2001 |title=The genus ''Juncus'' (Juncaceae) in Malesia and allied septate-leaved species in adjoining regions |journal=[[Telopea (journal)|Telopea]] |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=357–397 |doi=10.7751/telopea20013009 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2001Telop...9..357W }}</ref>