Round-fruited Rush (Juncus compressus)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Vascular plant > flowering plant > Rush |
| Red List Status: | Near Threatened (Not Relevant) [NT(nr)] |
| D5 Status: | Included in the baseline Red List Index for England (Wilkins, Wilson & Brown, 2022) |
| Section 41 Status: | (not listed) |
| Taxa Included Synonym: | (none) |
| UKSI Recommended Name: | Juncus compressus |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | Jacq. |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | in Stroh et al., 2014 |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | (none) |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Assessed as VU in England (Stroh et al. 2014), with the threat status based on a decline in occupancy. As a rhizomatous perennial rush of marshes, wet meadows and pastures, it is usually present where the sward is kept short by mowing or grazing. It has a long-lived seed bank, and appears to be capable of dispersing to new locations, either via birds or, if there is some connectivity, via water. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | The species would appear to have been lost from sites where grazing has ceased, or is insufficient to create areas of short turf and periodic disturbance. Also sites where the hydrological regime has altered. |
| Question 3: | At a landscape scale, would the species benefit from untargeted habitat management to increase habitat mosaics, structural diversity, or particular successional stages? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Juncus compressus would appear capable of dispersing to new locations, and especially newly created wet grasslands with livestock grazing, and also the margins of reservoirs. |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 5. Remedial action identified |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Medium-high |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - sufficient |
| Species Comments: |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Reinstate an appropriate grazing regime (cattle) at locations where the species has not been recorded in the recent past, but for which there are records from the late 20th century.
Action targets: 5. Remedial action identified
Action type: Habitat management
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 20 sites
High priority sites: Sites can be identified using the BSBI database and speaking with Vice-County Recorders
Comments:
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Contact landowners in close proximity to the established distribution to encourage the creation of new wetlands, ensuring that the design of the wetland incorporates drawdown zones.
Action targets: 8. Species recovering
Action type: Habitat creation
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 20 sites
High priority sites: To be determined as part of the recovery project
Comments:
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Create scrapes/drawdown zones within wetlands that are cattle grazed are located within core areas of the distribution of Juncus compressus.
Action targets: 8. Species recovering
Action type: Habitat creation
Duration: 2 years
Scale of Implementation: Unknown
High priority sites: To be determined, but centered on the core areas of current distribution of this species.
Comments:
Acknowledgment:
Data used on this website are adapted from Threatened species recovery actions 2025 baseline (JP065): Technical report and spreadsheet user guide (Natural England, 2025). Available here.