The data in the following table is from Collins Pocket Guide to The Grasses, Sedges, Rushes and Ferns of Britain and Northern Europe by R.Fitter, A.Fitter and A. Farrer (ISBN 0 00 219136 9) first published :-

A Habitat Table with its Wild Rush Plants:-

Plants with long narrow grass-like leaves, either borne on a stem or in a tussock, sometimes of great size. These may be rushes, which have rounded, often hollow and pithy stems, and rather similar leaves to grasses. They have the most 'flower-like' flowers, rather like a miniature brown lily. Otherwise more like sedges than grasses, but wood-rushes - Luzula - have flat grass-like leaves with long white hairs.

The following Rushes are further described and linked to the
Rush Family Page or
Rush: Woodrush Family Page.

Dwarf Rush around serpentine rock outcrops and sometimes in quarries
Three-flowered Rush of base-rich damp rocky or gravelly places, flushes and small marshes with little competing vegetation.
Three-leaved Rush on mountains on shallow soil or in rock crevices, which can be snow-covered for several months.

Frog Rush in grassy places
Fen Woodrush
Good Friday Grass in dry, sunny turf; especially on chalk, limestone or neutral soils

Chestnut Rush in wet chalky habitats and can withstand grass vegetation
Compact Rush in ditches and margins of still or running water
Fen Woodrush in dry, sunny turf; especially on chalk, limestone or neutral soils

Two-flowered Rush in damp rocky or gravelly places, ranging from well-watered rock faces and flushes to marshes with short open vegetation.

Spiked Woodrush on Mountains and Mountain Rocks (locally frequent on bare ground and rock-ledges on mountains in Northern England)

Great Woodrush in woods on acid soils and among mountain rocks, chiefly in Western England

Compact Rush in damp fields, and open woodland

Good Friday Grass in dry, sunny turf; especially on chalk, limestone or neutral soils

Alpine Rush in Marshy places on Mountains
Baltic Rush
Fen Rush in fens, marshes, wet meadows
Hard Rush in wet fields, ditches and fens, frequently on heavy clays
Leafy Toad Rush in wet fields, marshes and ditches

Arctic Woodrush is locally common above 4000 feet on a very few mountains in the highlands, chiefly in the Cairngorms
Great Woodrush in woods on acid soils and among mountain rocks, chiefly in Western England
Spiked Woodrush on Mountains and Mountain Rocks (locally frequent on bare ground and rock-ledges on mountains in Northern England)

Alpine Rush in Gravelly Stream Beds
Bulbous Rush in Water

Hairy Woodrush in woods and hedge-banks
Narrow-leaved Woodrush in Deciduous Woodland and Hedgerows in dry woods in Southern England

Fen Rush in ditches and by water
Hard Rush in wet places by rivers, ponds and lakes
Lakeside Rush in edges of lakes or reservoirs.
Leafy Toad Rush in muddy margins of lakes and ponds
Toad Rush on the margins of ponds, lakes, streams and rivers, marshes and dune-slacks, and rarely acid bogs.

Narrow-leaved Woodrush in Deciduous Woodland and Hedgerows in dry woods in Southern England

Heath Rush
Three-leaved Rush on mountains on shallow soil or in rock crevices, which can be snow-covered for several months.

Heath Rush on wet peaty heath and moorland
Heath Woodrush is frequent on heaths and moors and in woods, especially on acid soils

Bulbous Rush in or by water
Sharp-flowered Rush in damp meadows and pastures, marshes, bogs, wet heathland, and by ditches and ponds

Slender Rush in damp open ground by roads and lakes, on paths and in woodland and forest rides.

Soft Rush occurs by rivers, ponds, lakes, in marshes, wet fields, ditches and open wet woodland.

Hairy Woodrush in woods and hedge-banks
Heath Woodrush is frequent on heaths and moors and in woods, especially on acid soils

Pygmy Rush in coastal mud- and sand-flats above high-water mark
Sea Rush in saltmarshes and saline dune-slacks.
Sharp Rush in the uppermost levels of dry saltmarsh and on shingle banks.

Dwarf Toad Rush on sandy soil
Fine-leaved Rush in reed-swamp in a dune system

Dwarf Rush on ledges of granite sea-cliffs

Frog Rush in Saltmarshes
Round-fruited Rush in marshes, wet meadows and pastures, often near the sea and sometimes in brackish conditions
Saltmarsh Rush in mostly in the uppermost parts of coastal saltmarshes

Baltic Rush
Jointed Rush in damp fields, marshes, ditches, margins of ponds and dune-slacks

Dwarf Rush

Hard Rush

Baltic Rush
 

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Acid Soils have few basic minerals such as calcium and magnesium and are typically formed on rocks such as sandstones and granites.

Annual plants live for a year or less.

Base-rich or basic soils have large amounts of basic minerals (mainly calcium) and so are only slightly acid, neutral or alkaline.

Bogs occur on wet, more or less acid peat, and are often dominated by sphagnum mosses and sedges.

Calcareous soils are formed over chalk and limestone, and so are extremely base -rich. They are never more than slightly acid at the surface, and typically have a rich flora.

Casual plants appear only irregularly and are not native to the area.

Cones in horsetails and clubmosses are the fertile, spore-bearing region, more or less clearly differentiated from the stem.

Dunes are areas of wind-blown, usually calcareous shell-sand near the sea, with areas of damp ground termed 'slacks' in between.

Fens occur on base-rich peat, in contrast to bogs which are acid; the source of the bases is always infiltrating water from the surrounding land, since peat has no mineral reserves. Poor fens are nutrient-poor or acid, changing to bogs.

Heaths are dry, heather- or gorse-dominated areas in lowland regions, with rather acid soils. Wet heaths lie between bogs and heaths.

Margin is edge.

Marshes are wet habitats on mineral soils, though often with a thin layer of peat.

Moors are the upland counterpart of heaths and are typically dominated by heather, though bilberry, grasses or mosses may be important components.

Peat is a soil wholly composed of the un- or partially decomposed remains of plants which once grew on the site. It typically occurs in waterlogged conditions in which decomposition is very slow. Peats are found in fens and bogs.

Perennials are plants that survive for more than a single growing season.

Rhizomes are underground stems, from which shoots arise, sometimes swollen with stored food. They may be horizontal and far-creeping, short, or even upright.

Slack is a damp area in a sand-dune system.

Waste places are areas much disturbed by man, but not cultivated.

Wintergreen is a plant that remains green through the winter.