Rush

Rush, common name for a family of flowering plants with inconspicuous flowers, and for its representative genus. None of the approximately 325 members of the family have edible parts, but some are an important source of fibres. Rushes are worldwide in distribution but are most abundant in moist, cool habitats.

Rushes are mostly herbaceous, but one, the palmiet, native to southern Africa, is a woody shrub. The flowers are mostly wind pollinated (see Pollination) and thus have their petals and sepals reduced to inconspicuous scale-like structures.

The rush genus is the largest in the family, with about 225 species, and its stems produce many useful fibres. The soft rush, which is native to Eurasia, North America, and Australasia, is used in weaving Japanese floor mats called tatami and is widely cultivated in Japan for this purpose. This and similar species are also the source of split rushes for cane chairs and baskets. Other plants commonly called rushes—the bulrush, flowering rush, and scouring rush—are not actually members of the rush family.

Scientific classification: Rushes make up the family Juncaceae; the representative genus is Juncus. The palmiet is classified as Prionium serratum and the soft rush as Juncus effusus. Bulrushes are classified in the genus Scirpus, of the family Cyperaceae; flowering rushes in the genus Butomus, of the family Butomaceae; and scouring rushes in the genus Equisetum, of the family Equisetaceae.