FLORA
> Juncus capitatus
Family: Juncaceae
A small annual reed about 10cm tall. It is green-brown or redish. The basal leaves are very narrow and have a wide sheath.
The flowers are grouped in glomerules, and their whole forms the inflorescence.
The inflorescence has a characteristic bract that is longer than the inflorescence itself.
The flowers are greenish at the beginning, but as they mature they become brown-reddish.
They are found at the fringes of the temporary ponds, in meadows and siliceous pastures that are temporarily flooded, in the banks of lagoons and fresh waterlines, and very often in the priority habitat 3170* of the Directive 92/43/CEE - Mediterranean Temporary Ponds.
They have a wide distribution: Europe, Macaronesia (Azores and Canary Islands), Southwest Asia, Northern and Eastern Africa, Northeast of North America, and it has been introduced in Australia.
In Portugal it has a fragmented distribution.
This plant is very often found in the priority habitat 3170* of the Directive 92/43/CEE - Mediterranean Temporary Ponds, therefore the conservation of the habitat is crucial to preserve the species.
