Stems stout, 6-12 dm, bulbous-thickened at base, arising singly but close together from a stout rhizome; lf-sheaths with rounded auricles; principal blades 4-6 mm wide, with 5 main veins; infl obpyramidal, 4-10 cm, often much overtopped by the invol lf; heads 20-100, 4-6 mm, subtended by ovate acuminate bracts; fls eprophyllate; sep lanceolate, 1.8-2.5 mm, acuminate or short-aristate; pet 2-2.8 mm, oblong with broad scarious margins, stamens 3, nearly as long as the tep, the anthers much shorter than the filaments, often persistent and exsert; fr as in no. 22 [Juncus marginatus Rostk.]; 2n=40. Moist or wet meadows and shores; Mass. to Mich. and Mo., s. to Fla. and Tex. (J. aristulatus, misapplied; J. longii, with long rhizomes) Perhaps better treated as J. marginatus var. odoratus Torr.
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.
