The soft, grass-like stems of this strictly wetland plant are in clumps and each bears clusters of very small, greenish-brown, scaly flowers, the clusters diverging from one point on the side of the stalk near the top. This common marsh plant is one of many rushes, most of which are found in wet soil or water. Muskrats feed on the rootstalks, and birds find shelter among the stems. A member of the family Juncaceae which includes herbs, rarely shrubs, with mostly grass-like leaves, usually in a basal tuft, and small greenish or brownish flower in dense spikes or heads or sometimes in loose clusters or even solitary.
