Schoenoplectus californicus |
Schoenoplectus mucronatus |
|
---|---|---|
California bulrush, giant bulrush, southern bulrush, tule |
bog bulrush, rice-field bulrush, rough-seed bulrush |
|
Habit | Plants perennial (or annual?); rhizomes hard. | |
Rhizomes | 10–15 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, 0.4–1 m × 2–3 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. |
1–2; sheath fronts not pinnate-fibrillose; ligules absent; blades absent. |
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; proximal bract divergent to reflexed or rarely erect, trigonous, adaxially channeled, 1–10 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. |
4–20, 7–12 × 4 mm; scales orange-brown to straw-colored, central region often greenish, broadly obovate, 3–3.5 × 2–2.5 mm, margins ciliolate, apex obtuse to broadly acute, entire, mucronate. |
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 6, brown, bristlelike, equaling achene, stout, retrorsely spinulose; anthers 0.8 mm; styles 3-fid (or some 2-fid in same spikelet). |
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. |
dark to blackish brown, thickly plano-convex to obtusely trigonous, broadly obovoid, 1.7–2.2(–2.5) × 1.2–1.7 mm; beak 0.2 mm. |
2n | = 68. |
|
Schoenoplectus californicus |
Schoenoplectus mucronatus |
|
Phenology | Fruiting spring–summer. | Fruiting summer–fall. |
Habitat | Brackish to fresh marshes, shores, often emergent in water | Wet soil to emergent in fresh water, ponds, ditches, rice fields |
Elevation | 0–1400 m (0–4600 ft) | 20–300 m (100–1000 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]
|
CA; IA; IL; KY; MO; TN; Eurasia; Africa; Australia [Introduced in North America] |
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.) |
Schoenoplectus mucronatus was collected before 1900 in New Brunswick and New Jersey; apparently the plants did not persist. It has also been reported from New York and Pennsylvania; I have not seen specimens. Elsewhere, it has become firmly established. It is an important ricefield weed in California (M. K. Bellue 1947), where it was first observed in 1942 and is called “ricefield bulrush.” It was first observed in the Midwest in 1971. Schoenoplectus mucronatus is cultivated for wildlife food near the Columbia River in Clark County, Washington, but apparently is not established in that area. Schoenoplectus mucronatus is very similar to S. triangulatus (Roxburgh) Soják of Asia, which differs in its larger spikelets, spikelet scales, and anthers. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 23, p. 50. | FNA vol. 23, p. 58. |
Parent taxa | Cyperaceae > Schoenoplectus > sect. Schoenoplectus | Cyperaceae > Schoenoplectus > sect. Actaeogeton |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Elytrospermum californicum, Scirpus californicus | Scirpus mucronatus |
Name authority | (C. A. Meyer) Soják: Cas. Nár. Mus., Odd. Prír. 140: 127. (1972) | (Linnaeus) Palla: Verh. K. K. Zool.-Bot. Ges. Wien 38(Sitzungsber.): 49. (1888) |
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