[2] The plant has leaves shaped round or elliptical in cross-section, with darker horizontal lines visible against the light at intervals, like in the jointed rush.

The leaves are straight, smooth and circular in section, hollow, with transverse septa making the leaf feel jointed while touching and holding.

The plant commonly grows on acid soils in swampy wetlands and wet heathland and woodlands.

In a Dutch rich-fen, chlorosis has been noted in stands of Juncus acutiflorus at locations where groundwater containing high levels of nitrate reached the surface.

Nowadays, nitrate concentrations in ground water as high 1000 μM are no longer an exception in the Netherlands.