Schoenoplectus californicus |
Schoenoplectus americanus |
|
---|---|---|
California bulrush, giant bulrush, southern bulrush, tule |
American bulrush, chair-maker's club-bulrush, chairmaker's bulrush, Olney bulrush, Olney's bulrush, Olney's three-square bulrush, schoenoplectus |
|
Rhizomes | 10–15 mm diam. |
2–5 mm diam. |
Culms | bluntly trigonous with nearly flat sides throughout to cylindric proximally, obscurely trigonous distally, 1–4 m × 4–10 mm, smooth. |
sharply trigonous, sides deeply concave throughout to rarely nearly flat, 0.4–2.5 m × 3–10 mm. |
Leaves | 3–4, basal, ca. 1/6 culm length; sheath fronts coarsely pinnate-fibrillose; blades 0–1, dorsiventrally flat, not more than 1/2 sheath length, distal blade to 20 × 2 mm. |
ca. 3, basal, less than 1/2 culm length; sheath fronts not pinnate-fibrillose; blades 1–3, V-shaped near base, otherwise laterally flattened-trigonous in cross section; distal blade 0.2–1.5 times as long as sheath, 25–200 × 2–8 mm. |
Inflorescences | 3 or more times branched, branches to 21 cm; proximal bract usually erect, obtusely trigonous to subcylindric-channeled, 1–8 cm, margins often scabridulous. |
capitate or very rarely with 1 branch to 5 mm; proximal bract usually erect, resembling leaf blade, 1–6 cm. |
Spikelets | 25–150+, solitary and in clusters of 2 or more, 5–11 × 3 mm; scales orange-brown, brightly lineolate-spotted, broadly oval, 2.5 × 2 mm, margins ciliolate, flanks veinless, apex rounded, notch 0.1–0.2 mm deep, awn not contorted, usually bent outward, 0.3 mm, sparsely scabrous. |
2–20, 5–15 × 3–5 mm; scales bright orange- to red- or purple-brown to straw-colored, often partly translucent, usually clearly lineolate-spotted, broadly ovate, 2.7–4 × 2–3 mm, smooth or awn sparsely spinulose, margins deciduously ciliolate, flanks of proximal scale often with several ribs, apex rounded to acute, notch 0.1–0.4 mm deep, awn not contorted, 0.2–0.6 mm. |
Flowers | perianth members 2–4, dark red-brown, thickly strap-shaped or trigonous, equaling achenes, fringed with brownish, soft, blunt hairs; anthers 1.5 mm; styles 2-fid. |
perianth members (2–)5–6(–7), yellow-brown, bristlelike, slender to stout, often unequal to equaling 1/2 achene body, retrorsely spinulose; anthers 1.5–3 mm; styles 2-fid or 2-fid and 3-fid. |
Achenes | dark gray-brown when ripe, unequally biconvex or plano-convex, ovoid to obovoid, 1.8–2.2 × 1.3 mm; beak 0.2 mm. |
brown when ripe, thickly plano-convex or unequally biconvex or compressed obtusely trigonous, obovoid, 1.8–2.8 × 1.3–2 mm; beak 0.1–0.3 mm. |
2n | = 68. |
= 78. |
Schoenoplectus californicus |
Schoenoplectus americanus |
|
Phenology | Fruiting spring–summer. | Fruiting spring–summer (south), summer (north). |
Habitat | Brackish to fresh marshes, shores, often emergent in water | Brackish or mineral-rich shores, marshes, fens |
Elevation | 0–1400 m (0–4600 ft) | 0–2200 m (0–7200 ft) |
Distribution |
AL; AR; AZ; CA; FL; GA; KS; LA; MS; NC; NM; NV; OK; SC; TN; TX; Mexico; Central America; West Indies; South America (s to Argentina, Chile); Pacific Islands (Cook Islands, Easter Island, Hawaii) [Introduced, New Zealand]
|
AL; AZ; CA; CT; DE; FL; GA; ID; KS; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MO; MS; NC; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OK; OR; RI; SC; TX; UT; VA; VT; WA; WY; BC; NS; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies (Puerto Rico)
|
Discussion | Schoenoplectus californicus forms sterile hybrids with S. acutus in California (see 1. S. tabernaemontani) (S. G. Smith 1995). It reportedly occurs in Pope County, Illinois, although I have not seen a specimen. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
The secondary involucral bracts of Schoenoplectus americanus lack blades and closely resemble floral scales, in contrast to S. pungens and S. deltarum. Although mostly very locally distributed, S. americanus is ecologically important in many coastal marshes. In recent years it has seriously declined (e.g., in Maryland and Louisiana). It may occur in southwestern Kansas; I have not seen a specimen. It probably has been extirpated from the Missouri station, based on one collection from 1886 (G. Yatskievych, pers. comm.). The report from New Hampshire is based on M. L. Fernald (1950). The stations on the Maine and Connecticut coasts, at Lake Champlain in Vermont, and in Oklahoma are based on putative S. americanus × S. pungens specimens. Some plants in the southwest are atypical in having nearly flat culm sides and leaf blades to 1.5 times as long as their sheaths as in the type of Scirpus monophyllus J. Presl & C. Presl from Peru. The name Scirpes americanus was long misapplied to Schoenoplectus pungens; Schoenoplectus americanus was known as Scirpus olneyi (A. E. Schuyler 1974). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 23, p. 50. | FNA vol. 23, p. 52. |
Parent taxa | Cyperaceae > Schoenoplectus > sect. Schoenoplectus | Cyperaceae > Schoenoplectus > sect. Schoenoplectus |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Elytrospermum californicum, Scirpus californicus | Scirpus americanus, Scirpus olneyi |
Name authority | (C. A. Meyer) Soják: Cas. Nár. Mus., Odd. Prír. 140: 127. (1972) | (Persoon) Volkart ex Schinz & R. Keller: Fl. Schweiz ed. 2, 1: 75. (1905) |
Web links |
|