Smooth green stems whose pith, soaked in fat, made cheap household lamp wicks
Soft rush — the rushlight.
Nature · Ferns, grasses & other plants
Soft rush
Native · flowers May–July · to 1.5 m · wet grassland, marsh, ditches and heath
Juncus effusus — Juncaceae
Soft rush is the tussock-forming, leafless-looking plant that fills wet fields, ditches and moorland flushes across Britain, its slim, smooth, glossy green stems standing in dense clumps that cattle avoid. What look like leaves are actually stems, and the little brown flower cluster appears to burst from the side halfway up. The pith of the stems was dipped in fat to make rushlights, the poor family's candle, and the stems are still woven in Japan for tatami mats.
How to spot them
- ▸Tufts of smooth, shiny, bright green, cylindrical stems up to 1.5 m, with no visible leaves except brown basal sheaths
- ▸Stem pith is continuous and soft and can be peeled out as a white thread
- ▸Small loose cluster of pale brown flowers appearing to emerge from the side of the stem, from May to July
- ▸Fine ridges only when dry; fresh stems smooth
- ▸Look-alike: hard rush is glaucous, stiffly ridged and stems hard with interrupted pith; soft rush is smooth, bright green and softer
How to know it
Children plait its stems into bracelets and ornaments; in Japan the stems are woven into tatami
Soft rush — Juncus effusus.
Flowers appear to burst from the side of a leafless-looking stem in May to July
Soft rush.
Its Latin species name means 'spread out' or 'poured forth', for its loose flower cluster
Soft rush — effusus.
Dense tufts of bright green stems dominate wet pasture where cattle refuse to graze it
Soft rush.
Quick-fire facts
- •Grows to 1.5 m in wet woodland, marshes, ditches, grassland, heath and moor, according to the Wildlife Trusts
- •Smooth green stems can be peeled to give the pith, which was soaked in fat and used as wicks in household lamps, a cheaper alternative to candles
- •Children have traditionally plaited soft rush into bracelets and ornamental items
- •Brighter and softer than hard rush, whose stems are grey-green and sharply ridged
- •In Japan, Juncus effusus (igusa) is woven into tatami mat covers
- •A rush is a flowering plant, with tiny six-part wind-pollinated flowers; it is not a grass or sedge
- •Rushlights were still common in poor rural homes in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries
Drill it — 5 cards
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Sources
- The Wildlife Trusts — Soft rush