Field Wood-rush - Luzula campestris

Alternative names
Good Friday Grass; Chimney Sweeps
Description

A compact and loosely tufted hairy grass like plant, with a short rootstock and shortly creeping runners. Leaves 2 to 4 mm wide, bright green, grass like, thinly hairy. Variable in height and form; stems rarely over 15 cm tall usually much less, erect, ending in a loose panicle of 1 stalkless and 3 to 6 stalked, globose to ovoid heads, each with 3 to 12 florets, the stalks of the heads curved in flower.

Identification difficulty
Habitat

In short grassy situations, lawns, roadside verges, preferring moist conditions.

When to see it

March to June.

Life History

Perennial.

UK Status

Common throughout Britain.

VC55 Status

Common in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 421 of the 617 tetrads.

Leicestershire & Rutland Map

MAP KEY:

Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2020+ | 2015-2019 | pre-2015

UK Map

Species profile

Common names
Field Wood-rush
Species group:
Grasses, Rushes & Sedges
Kingdom:
Plantae
Order:
Poales
Family:
Juncaceae
Records on NatureSpot:
215
First record:
21/06/2001 (Jane McPhail;John Kramer)
Last record:
07/05/2024 (O'Brien, Helen)

Total records by month

% of records within its species group

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