Herbs, perennial, cespitose, 1--2.5 dm. Culms erect, terete, 1--2 mm diam., smooth. Cataphylls 0--1, maroon or dark green, apex acute. Leaves: basal 0--1, cauline 1--3; auricles 1--1.5 mm, apex rounded, scarious; blade maroon or dark green, terete, 1--12.5 cm x 0.5--1.5 mm. Inflorescences terminal panicles of 3--50 heads, 2--8 cm, branches ascending to spreading; primary bract erect; heads 2--10-flowered, obpyramidal, 2--5 mm diam. Flowers: tepals green to straw-colored, lanceolate, 1.8--2.3(--2.5) mm, apex sharply acuminate; stamens 3, 1/2 filament length. Capsules exserted, straw-colored, 1-locular, narrowly ellipsoid to lanceoloid, 2.8--3.7 7(--4.2) mm, apex acute, valves separating at dehiscence. Seeds ellipsoid, 0.3--0.4 mm, not tailed; body clear yellow-brown.

Fruiting summer. Marshy shores, in small streams, swamps, wet clearings, spring runs, commonly in very soft mucky substrates; 0--700 m; Ala., Ark., Del., Fla., Ga., Ill., Ky., La., Md., Miss., Mo., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Pa., S.C., Tenn., Tex., Va.; Mexicos (Chiapas); Central America (Honduras).

Juncus debilis A. Gray is a name being proposed for conservation.

Stems cespitose, very slender, erect, 1-4 dm; lvs terete, septate, 0.5-1 mm thick; infl loosely and divaricately branched, a third to half the height of the plant, with 5-50 obpyramidal, 2-5(-10)-fld heads 3-6 mm thick; fls eprophyllate; tep linear-subulate, subequal, 1.2-2.8 mm, very narrowly scarious-margined; stamens 3; fr unilocular, pale cinnamon-brown, ellipsoid-trigonous or narrowly ovoid-trigonous, acute, 2.8-4.2 mm, distinctly surpassing the tep. Moist sandy soil; R.I. to Mo., s. to Fla. and Miss.

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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