Index / Search / Juncus megacephalus

§1 Plant

Juncus megacephalus M.A. Curtis

vernacular bighead rush — species · Juncaceae


USDA
JUME
GBIF
2701552
Rank
species
bighead rush (Juncus megacephalus)
Platephotograph · Ed ZaborskiCC BY-NC source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Habit and range

Growth habit
Graminoid
Duration
Perennial
Group
Monocot
Family
Juncaceae Juss.
Genus
Juncus
§2a

Native status, by region

  • L48 Lower 48 States Native
§2b

County-level range

· 108 counties across 10 states/territories
Legend Native · 108 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought
None
Shade
Low
Moisture use
High
Fire
High
Salinity
Medium
Anaerobic
High
CaCO₃
Medium
Hedging
None
§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance
12 °F minimum
Frost-free days
200 min.
Precipitation
36–55 in/yr
pH range
4.5–6.8
Root depth
10 in min.
Fertility need
Low
Soil texture
coarse, medium, fine
§3c

Form & growth

Growth form
Rhizomatous
Growth rate
Moderate
Lifespan
Long
Mature height
3.1 ft
Foliage texture
Coarse
Foliage colour
Green
Porosity (summer)
Moderate
Porosity (winter)
Porous
Flower colour
Green
Fruit colour
Brown
Fire resistant
No
N fixation
None
Toxicity
None
§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period
Early Summer
Seed abundance
Medium
Seed begins
Summer
Seed ends
Summer
Spread rate
Moderate
Stratify
No
Propagation
seed, bare root, sprigs
§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability
No Known Source
Nursery stock
No
Browse palatability
Low
Graze palatability
Low
Palatable, human
No
Protein potential
Low
Lumber
No
Christmas tree
No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 108 counties across 10 states/territories.

Alabama view state ↗ 7 N
Florida view state ↗ 56 N
Georgia view state ↗ 8 N
Louisiana view state ↗ 9 N
Maryland view state ↗ 1 N
Mississippi view state ↗ 4 N
North Carolina view state ↗ 12 N
South Carolina view state ↗ 4 N
Texas view state ↗ 5 N
Virginia view state ↗ 2 N

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/JUME ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/2701552 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T11:35:19Z