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Vegetative Morphology And Anatomy Of The Salt Marsh Rush, Juncus Roemerianus, Lionel N. Eleuterius

Gulf and Caribbean Research

The extensive rhizome development found in Juncus roemerianus makes this species unique among rushes and is a biological feature responsible, in part, for its domination of large tracts of salt marsh. Branching in certain mature plants is distinctly sympodial, while in most it is obscured by precocious development of the continuation bud and appears to be monopodial. Each vegetative unit is composed of a scaly rhizome which grows to varying lengths and then abruptly turns up at the end to become an erect shoot. A continuation rhizome consistently arises from an axillary bud in a ventral scale leaf. Transitional leaves …