Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani
Schoenoplectus smithii
great bulrush, scirpe des étangs, soft-stem bulrush, soft-stem club-bulrush, tule
Smith's annual-bulrush, Smith's bulrush
3–10 mm diam.
cylindric, 0.5–3 m × 2–10 mm.
often arching (to decumbent), terete, 0.02–0.5 m × 0.5–1.5 mm.
3–4, basal;
sheath fronts membranous-translucent, often pinnate-fibrillose;
blades 1–2, C-shaped to dorsiventrally flat in cross section, usually much shorter than sheath, distal blade 2–200 × 1–4 mm, margins often scabridulous.
1, to equaling culm;
sheath fronts not pinnate-fimbrillose;
blades 0–1, cross section C-shaped, from a mucro to longer than a sheath by 0.5 mm, smooth.
2–4 times branched, branches to 15(–25) cm;
proximal bract usually erect, thickly C-shaped to subterete, 1–8 cm, margins sometimes scabridulous.
capitate or 1 spikelet;
proximal bract erect, very rarely divergent, on longer culms of plants 5–150 mm and 1/5–2/3 culm length.
15–200, solitary or in clusters of 2–4(–7), commonly all solitary, 3–17 × 2.5–4 mm;
scales uniformly dark to pale orange-brown, sometimes straw-colored, sometimes prominently lineolate-spotted, midrib often pale or green, ovate, 2–3.5 × 1.5–2 mm, sparsely (rarely densely) reddish or straw-colored, scabrous on awn and distal parts of midrib and sometimes flanks, margins ciliate, hairs contorted;
flanks veinless, apex obtuse to rounded, notch 0.2–0.3 mm deep, awn straight or bent, 0.2–0.8 mm.
1–15, 5–12 × 3(–4) mm;
scales straw-colored to orange-brown, often lineolate-spotted, midrib region usually green becoming straw-colored, obovate, 2.5–3 × 1.5–2 mm, smooth, margins distally ciliolate at 20X, flanks in proximal part of spikelet each with 2–10 distinct ribs, apex rounded, entire, mucronate.
perianth bristles 6, brown, ± equaling achene, densely retrorsely spinulose;
anthers 2 mm;
styles 2-fid, sometimes 3-fid near spikelet apex.
perianth bristles 0 or 4–6, rarely 1–3, brown, ± equaling to 2 times longer than achene, rarely much shorter, slender throughout, densely to sparsely retrorsely-spreading spinulose;
anthers 0.4–0.6 mm;
styles 2-fid or 2-fid and 3-fid.
dark gray-brown when ripe, plano-convex, obovoid, 1.5–2.8 × 1.2–1.7 mm;
beak 0.2–0.4 mm.
brown, turning blackish, thinly to thickly plano-convex or unequally biconvex, sometimes clearly trigonous with distinct, narrow abaxial angle, adaxial face without central bulge, cuneate-obovoid, proximally evenly tapered and usually without stipelike constriction, 1.5–2 × 1.2–1.5 mm, base 0.2–0.3 mm wide;
beak 0.1–0.2 mm, very finely longitudinally ridged at 20–30X.
= 42.
Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani
Schoenoplectus smithii
Two yellow-striped forms of Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani are grown as ornamentals.
Schoenoplectus validus, described from the Caribbean, and S. tabernaemontani, described from Europe, are here treated as one variable, cosmopolitan species without infraspecific taxa, pending further studies (J. Browning et al. 1995b; S. G. Smith 1995). Most North American plants have spikelets with reddish papillae or prickles on the scales, whereas some plants of coastal and boreal North America closely resemble most plants of northwestern Europe and southern Africa in their densely reddish prickly-papillose scales and are similar to the type of Scirpus glaucus J. E. Smith.
Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani, S. acutus, S. heterochaetus, S. lacustris, and S. triqueter belong to the very difficult S. lacustris complex. The entire complex except S. triqueter was treated as the single species Scirpus lacustris (T. Koyama 1962b). Many Old World authors treat Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani as S. lacustris var. tabernaemontani or subsp. glaucus.
Much of the local infraspecific variation in the Schoenoplectus lacustris complex is probably because of hybridization. Some studies support the recognition of separate species in this group (J. Browning et al. 1995b). Hybrids in North America include S. acutus × S. tabernaemontani, widespread and common, especially in the east; S. acutus × S. heterochaetus = S. ×oblongus (T. Koyama) Soják, widespread but uncommon; S. heterochaetus × S. tabernaemontani = S. ×steinmetzii (Fernald) S. G. Smith, eastern and most uncommon; S. tabernaemontani × S. triqueter = S. ×kuekenthalianus (Junge) Kent, lower Columbia River in Oregon and probably Washington; and S. acutus var. occidentalis × S. californicus, local in California. Except for its trigonous culms, S. triqueter is very similar to the S. lacustris complex and freely hybridizes with S. tabernaemontani, both in North America and Europe.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Varieties 3 (3 in the flora).
Plants of Schoenoplectus smithii with perianth bristles are easily disinguished from S. purshianus by the uniformly slender bristles in S. smithii; plants without bristles may be identified using the achene characters as indicated in the key. In addition, in S. smithii the receptacle collar is relatively small, the achenes are usually widest distal to the middle, the summit is often subtruncate, the adaxial face is often plane, the abaxial face is without a central bulge and sometimes has a distinct narrow angle, and when mature the surface has fine longitudinal ridges. In contrast, in S. purshianus the receptacle collar is relatively large, the achenes are usually widest at the middle, the summit is usually rounded, the adaxial face is nearly always convex, the abaxial face has a distinct central bulge and never a narrow angle, and the surface lacks fine longitudinal ridges.
The eastern Asian Scirpus komarovii Roshevitz [= Schoenoplectus komarovii (Roshevitz) Soják] was treated as Scirpus smithii var. leiocarpus (Komarov) T. Koyama (= Schoenoplectus smithii subsp. leiocarpus Soják) by T. Koyama (1962b); it is better to treat S. komarovii as a distinct Asian species and S. smithii as restricted to North America pending further research (S. G. Smith and E. Hayasaka 2002).
The varieties of Scirpus smithii were reduced to S. smithii forma setosus (Fernald) Fernald and S. smithii A. Gray forma levisetus (Fassett) Fernald (M. L. Fernald 1942). It seems better to treat those taxa as ecotypic varieties following W. R. Ferren Jr. and A. E. Schuyler (1980) because they reportedly grow in different habitats (S. G. Smith and E. Hayasaka 2002) and thus may be valuable as ecologic indicators. The varieties are undoubtedly more widely distributed than given here; distributions were based on specimens I have seen and reports by A. E. Schuyler (1972) and W. R. Ferren Jr. and A. E. Schuyler (1980).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Perianth bristles absent or rudimentary. | var. smithii |
1. Perianth bristles present, some well developed. | → 2 |
2. Perianth bristles 4–6, equaling to twice as long as achene, densely spinulose. | var. setosus |
2. Perianth bristles 1–4, much shorter than to nearly equaling achene, smooth or very sparsely spinulose. | var. levisetus |
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