BULRUSHES AND BULRUSHLIKE PLANTS
OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA

Biological Laboratory

LIBRARY

SEP 1 0 1965

WOODS HOLE, MASS.

United States Department of the Interior

Fish and Wildlife Service
Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife

Circular 221

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Stewart L. Udall, Secretary

Stanley A. Cain, Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlifi

FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE

Clarence F. Pautzke, Commissioner

Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife

John S. Gottschalk, Director

Aquatic Plants of Eastern North America

The importance of marsh and water plants to many kinds of
wildlif e--particularly waterfowl — makes ready identification
of these plants of especial value to wildlife management workers.
Descriptions and drawings of selected marsh and water plants are
being issued in a series of pamphlets intended to help in iden-
tifying these plants, and in distinguishing between similar
species. These notes are intended not only for the expert but
also for the technician who has not specialized in plant taxonomy.
The geographical range covered is approximately the eastern half
of the North American continent north of Mexico.

Bulrushes and Bulrushlike Plants is the second pamphlet to
be issued in this series; the first issued was Pondweeds and
Pondweedlike Plants (May 1964).

BULRUSHES AND BULRUSHLIKE PLANTS
OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA

By

Neil Hotchkiss, Wildlife Research Biologist

Patuxent Wildlife Research Center

Division of Wildlife Research

Circular 221
Washington, D. C. • May 1965

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office
Washington, D.C., 20402 - Price 20 cents

CONTENTS

Page

Plants with apparently leafless, rounded stems, and open heads 3-6

Hardstem Bulrush 4

Softstem Bulrush 4

Southern Bulrush 5

Slender Bulrush 5

Needlerush 6

Soft Rush 6

Plants with almost leafless, three-cornered or rounded stems,

and tight heads 7-10

Common Threesquare 8

Olney Threesquare 8

Torrey Threesquare 9

Blunt Spikerush 9

Bluntscale Bulrush 10

Sharpscale Bulrush 10

Plants with leafy, three-cornered stems, and heads with a

few big spikelets 11-13

Saltmarsh Bulrush 12

Alkali Bulrush 12

River Bulrush 13

Plants with leafy, three-cornered stems, and heads with

many small spikelets 14-15

Black Bulrush 14

Woolgrass 15

Plants unlike those of the preceding groups and unlike

each other 16-18

Swamp Bulrush 16

Seaside Bulrush 16

Water Bulrush 17

Alga Bulrush 17

Tropical Bulrush 18

Shore Cyperus 18

BULRUSHES AND BULRUSHLIKE PLANTS
OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA

This is the second of a series of publications on the field ident-
ification of the marsh and water plants of eastern North America. It
describes 19 bulrushes and 4 bulrushlike plants. Current manuals
describe several other kinds of bulrushes that I consider to be only
variations of those treated here. The manuals also include the follow-
ing kinds that grow mainly in wet meadows, bogs, or swampy woods or in
dry places: Scirpus cespitosus, clintonii, divaricatus, fontinalis,
hudsonianus, koilolepis (carinatus), lineatus, longii, peckii,
polyphyllus, rollandii, sylvaticus (includes expansus and rubrotinctus)
and verecundus (see pages 266 to 276 in the eighth edition of Gray's
Manual).

Bulrush seeds are important duck foods, and the rootstocks of some

kinds are important goose and muskrat foods. In the north, diving

ducks nest in stands of bulrushes that are broken by patches of water.

In both the north and the south, such stands furnish house material
and cover for muskrats and shelter for ducks.

Bulrushes are common in and along freshwater lakes, ponds, and
streams from Manitoba to Nova Scotia and south to Missouri and
Virginia, but are scarce farther north and south. Along the coast
they are common in and along fresh, brackish, and salt bays and
rivers from Nova Scotia to Texas.

Bulrushes vary from a few inches high to twice as tall as a man.
Most of them grow in wet soil or shallow water and have stiff stems.
Exceptions are Water Bulrush, with most of the stem and all of the
hairlike leaves under water, and Alga Bulrush, with all of the limp
stem under water. In some coastal waters, Softstem Bulrush, Southern
Bulrush, and Common Threesquare are half-submerged at high tide. A
few kinds of bulrush come up from seed each year, but most have long-
lived rootstocks that perennially send up colonies of close-standing
stems. The stems of most kinds die in winter, but in the south those
of Southern Bulrush and Olney Threesquare often stay green.

Most bulrushes start to head out by early summer. The heads
produce a tiny flower under each brown scale of their conelike
spikelets; and each flower ripens a single seed that varies from the
size of fine sand in Black Bulrush to 3/16 inch long in River Bulrush.
Spikerushes and cyperuses also ripen one seed under each scale. Rushes
(Juncus), however, produce small six-parted flowers, each of which
ripens a pod filled with many tiny seeds.

The pictures of seed heads are life-size and show plants of
average size and shape. The small habit pictures are about 1/30
life-size.

To identify a plant with this guide, first read pages 1-3,
7, 11, and 14, and scan the pictures. If the plant fits one of the
groups outlined on page 2 and described in detail on a later page,
look, at the pictures of the plants of that group. If the plant
looks like one of these pictures and unlike any other, and if it
agrees with the accompanying description, you have identified it
correctly.

The plants are described in five groups, according to whether
they have

apparently leafless, rounded stems and open heads (p. 3-6)

Hardstem Bulrush Slender Bulrush
Softstem Bulrush Needlerush
Southern Bulrush Soft Rush

almost leafless, three-cornered or rounded stems
and tight heads (p. 7-10)

Common Threesquare Blunt Spikerush
Olney Threesquare Bluntscale Bulrush
Torrey Threesquare Sharpscale Bulrsuh

long leaves on three-cornered stems that are topped with
heads of a few big spikelets (p. 11-13)

Saltmarsh Bulrush
Alkali Bulrush
River Bulrush

long leaves on three-cornered stems that are topped with
heads of many small spikelets (p. 14-15)

Black Bulrush
Woolgrass

characteristics unlike those of the preceding groups
and unlike each other (p. 16-18)

Swamp Bulrush Alga Bulrush

Seaside Bulrush Tropical Bulrush

Water Bulrush Shore Cyperus

PLANTS WITH APPARENTLY LEAFLESS, ROUNDED STEMS, AND OPEN HEADS
grow from knee-high to twice as tall as a man, and usually stand close
together in colonies on wet ground or as much as waist-deep in fresh,
brackish and alkali water. The stems of the bulrushes are several
times as thick at the bottom as at the top. When mature, these stems
are topped with an open head of few to many, oval or oblong spikelets
that are 1/4 to 3/4 inch long. The ripe seeds are deep-gray and
about 1/16 inch long. Needlerush and Soft Rush stems are only a
little thicker at the bottom than at the top. When mature, their
stems have a many-flowered head far below the top. The brownish or
greenish flowers are less than 1/4 inch long, and their ripe pods are
filled with brown seeds the size of fine sand.

.#;#

HARDSTEM BULRUSH (Scirpus acutus)

Fresh and alkali marshes inland from British Columbia to Newfound-
land, California, Texas and North Carolina; and fresh and brackish
marshes along the Pacific coast and along the Atlantic south to Virginia.

Stems as tall as a man to much taller, usually dark-green and firm.

Resembles Softstem, Southern and Slender Bulrushes but the branches
of the heads are stiff, not droopy.

SOFTSTEM BULRUSH
(Scirpus validus; includes steinmetzii)

Fresh marshes inland from Alaska
to Newfoundland, California, Texas
and Florida; and fresh and brackish
marshes along each coast.

Stems waist-high to as tall as a
man, usually grayish-green and very
easily crushed between fingers.

Resembles Hardstem Bulrush but
the heads are droopy and have smaller
spikelets. Resembles Southern Bulrush
but most of the spikelets or clusters
of spikelets have long stalks, and the
stem is rounded. Resembles Slender
Bulrush but many of the spikelets are
in clusters.

a

SOUTHERN BULRUSH
(Scirpus calif ornicus)

Fresh and alkali
marshes inland from Cali-
fornia to Arkansas, and
in Florida; and fresh and
brackish marshes along
the California coast and
along the southeast coast
from Texas to South
Carolina.

Stems as tall as a
man to twice as tall,
bluntly three-edged, usu-
ally dark-green and firm.

Resembles Softstem
Bulrush but most of the
spikelets have very short
stalks and the stem is
bluntly three-edged.
Resembles Hardstem Bul-
rush but the heads are
droopy and the stem is
bluntly three-edged.

SLENDER BULRUSH
(Scirpus heterochaetus)

Fresh marshes in
Washington, Idaho and
Oregon; and from
Montana to Quebec,
Oklahoma, Illinois and
New York.

Stems as tall as
a man, usually dark-
green and firm.

Resembles
Hardstem and Softstem
Bulrushes but the
spikelets are by them-
selves on usually long
stalks.

NEEDLERUSH
( Juncus

roemerianus)

Non- tidal and
slightly tidal
brackish and salt
marshes from Texas
to Maryland.

Dense, dark-
green or dark-
gray colonies of
knee-high to
shoulder-high
stems and stem-
like leaves look
about the same
the year around.

Stems and
leaves resemble
stems of Hards tem
and Southern Bul-
rushes but are
nearly as thin at
the bottom as at
the top and are
needle-tipped.

SOFT RUSH
(Juncus effusus)

Landward edges of
fresh marshes from Alaska
to Arizona; and Minnesota
to Newfoundland, Texas and
Florida.

Upright or spreading,
close-growing or scattered
clumps are knee-high to as
tall as a man.

Stems resemble those
of Softstem Bulrush but
are nearly as thin at the
bottom as at the top and
usually are shorter and
more clumped.

PLANTS WITH ALMOST LEAFLESS, THREE-CORNERED OR ROUNDED STEMS, AND
TIGHT HEADS include the threesquares which come up each year from long-
lived rootstocks and the clumped bulrushes which come up each year from
seed. The threesquares usually stand close together--but not in clumps
--in colonies that are knee-high to taller than a man, on wet ground or
as much as knee-deep in fresh, brackish and alkali water. When mature,
the stems have a tight head of a few oval or oblong spikelets on one
side a little below the top. The spikelets are 1/4 to 3/4 inch long;
the ripe seeds are brownish and from 1/16 to more than 1/8 inch long.
Bluntscale Bulrush and Sharpscale Bulrush have seed heads similar to
those of the threesquares, but their rounded stems grow in clumps that
are usually less than knee-high, on wet ground or in no more than a few
inches of fresh, brackish and alkali water. The spikelets are 1/8 to
3/4 inch long; the ripe seeds are blackish and about 1/16 inch long.
Blunt Spikerush clumps are similar; but its mature stems have a single,
oval or oblong seed head at the very top. Several other kinds of
spikerush, looking only a little different, can be told apart by their
seeds (see pages 252 to 259 in the eighth edition of Gray's Manual).

COMMON THREE SQUARE
(Scirpus americanus)

Fresh, brackish and alkali
marshes—usually in sandy soil-
inland and along each coast from
Alaska to Newfoundland, California,
Texas and Florida.

Stems knee-high to as tall
as a man.

Resembles Olney Threesquare
but the stems have a long, sharp
point and only slightly concave
sides, and the spikelets are
sharp-pointed. Resembles Torrey
Threesquare but the stems have a
sharp point and the spikelets
are reddish-brown to dark-
purplish -brown.

OLNEY THREESQUARE
(Scirpus olneyi)

Brackish marshes—usually in peaty
soil — along the California and Atlantic
coasts; alkali marshes from Washington to
Wyoming, California and Texas; and in a
few places in Michigan, Ohio and Missouri.

Stems knee-high to taller than a man.

Resembles Common Threesquare but the
stems have a short, blunt point and deeply
concave sides.

X

TORREY THREESQUARE
(Scirpus torreyi)

Fresh marshes from Manitoba to New
Brunswick, South Dakota, Missouri and
New Jersey.

Stems knee-high to waist-high.

Resembles Common Threesquare but
the stems have a blunt point and the
spikelets are light-brown.

BLUNT SPIKERUSH
(Eleocharis obtusa)

On wet shores of lakes, ponds
and streams from British Columbia
to California; and from Minnesota
to Nova Scotia, New Mexico and
Florida.

Stems sprawling to upright,
ankle-high to knee-high.

BLUNTSCALE BULRUSH
(Scirpus smithii; includes debilis
and purshianus)

On wet shores of lakes, ponds
and streams from Minnesota to Quebec,
Alabama and Georgia; maturing from
mid- summer to fall.

Stems sprawling to upright,
ankle-high to knee-high.

Resembles Sharpscale Bulrush
but has blunt scales which are not
ridged on the back, and shiny seeds.

SHARPSCALE BULRUSH
(Scirpus supinus; includes hallii and
saximontanus)

**^>

On wet shores of lakes, ponds and
streams from South Dakota to Ohio,
Texas and Florida; maturing from mid-
summer to fall.

Stems sprawling to upright, ankle-
high to shin-high.

Resembles Bluntscale Bulrush but
has sharp-pointed scales which are
ridged on the back, and dull seeds.

10

PLANTS WITH LEAFY, THREE-CORNERED STEMS, AND HEADS WITH A FEW BIG
SPIKE LETS grow from knee-high to as tall as a man, usually standing
close together in colonies on wet ground or as much as knee-deep in
fresh, brackish and alkali water. The sharply three-cornered stems
have several long, flattish leaves that are a little wider than the
stems. Mature stems are topped with an open or tight head of oval
or oblong spikelets that are 1/2 inch to 1 1/2 inches long. The ripe
seeds are brown and from 1/8 to 3/16 inch long. Stems and foliage of
leafy, small-spikeleted bulrushes and a few kinds of carex are similar,
but their heads are very different.

11

SALTMARSH BULRUSH (Scirpus robustus)

Brackish and salt coastal marshes- -rare in Washington and Califor-
nia; common from New Brunswick to Texas.

Stems knee-high to shoulder-high.

Resembles Alkali Bulrush but has deep-brown spikelets with hook-
tipped scales, and seeds which in end view are flat on one side and
rounded on the other.

ALKALI BULRUSH

(Scirpus maritimus; includes
paludosus)

Brackish and salt coastal
marshes from British Columbia
to California and from Quebec to
New Jersey; brackish marshes in
central New York; and alkali
marshes in the western half of
the continent, east as far as
Northwest Territories, Minnesota
and Texas.

Stems knee-high to
shoulder-high.

Resembles Saltmarsh Bulrush
but has straw-colored to medium-
brown spikelets with bristle-
tipped scales, and seeds which
in end view have almost parallel
sides .

12

RIVER BULRUSH (Scirpus fluviatilis)

Fresh marshes, both inland and coastal--rare from Washington to
Saskatchewan, California and New Mexico; common from Manitoba to New
Brunswick, Kansas and Virginia.

Stems waist-high to as tall as a man. In dried-out marshes often
has no seed heads.

13

PLANTS WITH LEAFY, THREE-CORNERED STEMS, AND HEADS WITH MANY
SMALL SPIKELETS grow from knee-high to as tall as a man, standing
singly or in clumps, close together or scattered, on wet ground or in
a few inches of fresh water. The bluntly or sharply three-cornered
stems have several long, flattish leaves that are a little wider than
the stems. Mature stems are topped with a usually open head of 100 to
1000 oval or oblong spikelets that are 1/8 to 1/4 inch long. The ripe
seeds are yellowish and 1/16 inch long, or shorter. Stems and foliage
of leafy, big-spikeleted bulrushes and a few kinds of carex are
similar, but their heads are very different.

BLACK BULRUSH
(Scirpus atrovirens;
includes georgianus and
pallidus)

Landward edges of
fresh marshes from
Washington to Newfound-
land, Arizona, Texas
and Georgia.

Mature seed heads
are not droopy or
woolly, and are dull-
brown to greenish-black.

14

WOOLGRASS (Scirpus cyperinus;
includes atrocinctus, eriophorum, pedicellatus , and rubricosus)

Landward edges of fresh marshes from British Columbia to Newfound-
land, Washington, South Dakota, Texas and Florida; maturing mostly from
mid-summer to fall.

Mature seed heads are droopy and woolly, and usually light-brown.

15

PLANTS UNLIKE THOSE OF THE PRECEDING GROUPS AND UNLIKE EACH OTHER

SWAMP BULRUSH
(Scirpus etuberculatus)

Fresh marshes from
Delaware to Louisiana;
and in Missouri.

Three-edged stems
with two or three long
leaves near the bottom
are waist-high to as
tall as a man, and
usually grow scattered.

SEASIDE BULRUSH
(Scirpus rufus)

Brackish and salt marshes
inland in Saskatchewan and
Manitoba, and along the coast
from Hudson Bay to New Brunswick.

Roundish stems are ankle-
high to knee-high, and usually
grow in patches. Heads are
shiny purplish-brown and
flattish.

16

WATER BULRUSH
(Scirpus subterminalis)

In as much as 5
feet of fresh water in
lakes, ponds and slow
streams from British
Columbia to Oregon and.
Wyoming; and Minnesota
to Newfoundland, Mis-
sissippi and Georgia.

Usually with many
hairlike leaves trailing
just under the surface
of the water and the
tops of a few roundish
stems standing above it.

ALGA BULRUSH
(Scirpus confervoides ;
formerly Websteria
submersa)

In shallow fresh
water from Virginia to
Florida.

Hair like, branched
stems up to 3 feet
long grow in a tangle
just under water.
Usually is flowerless,
but the top branches
sometimes end in a
narrow, spikerush-like
seed head.

17

>^&fc

TROPICAL BULRUSH
(Scirpus

cubensis)

Fresh marshes,
both inland and
coastal, from
Texas to Florida.

Sharply three-
edged stems with
several long
leaves near the
bottom are knee-
high to thigh-
high.

Reddish-green
heads resemble
those of some
kinds of cyperus
but the scales
stick out in all
directions.

SHORE CYPERUS
(Cyperus aristatus; formerly
inf lexus)

On wet shores of lakes
ponds and streams from British
Columbia to New Brunswick,
California, Texas and Florida;
maturing from mid-summer to fall.

Stems are ankle-high or a
little higher and usually grow
in clumps. Scales are in one
plane in two rows on each final
branch of a head.

18

INDEX

Bulrush, Alga, 17

Alkali, 12
Black, 14
Bluntscale, 10
Hardstem, 4
River, 13
Saltmarsh, 12
Seaside, 16
Sharpscale, 10
Slender, 5
Softstem, 4
Southern, 5
Swamp, 16
Tropical, 18
Water, 17

Cyperus aristatus, 18
inflexus, 18

Cyperus, Shore, 18

Eleocharis obtusa, 9

Juncus effusus, 6

roemerianus, 6

Needlerush, 6

Rush, Soft, 6

Scirpus acutus, 4

americanus, 8
atrocinctus, 15
atrovirens, 14
calif ornicus, 5
conf ervoides , 17
cubensis, 18
cyperinus, 15

Scirpus--cont.

debilis, 10
eriophorum, 15
etuberculatus, 16
fluviatilis, 13
georgianus, 14
hallii, 10
heterochaetus, 5
maritimus, 12
olneyi, 8
pallidus, 14
paludosus, 12
pedicellatus, 15
purshianus, 10
robustus, 12
rubricosus, 15
rufus, 16
saximontanus , 10
smithii, 10
steinmetzii, 4
subterminalis, 17
supinus, 10
torreyi, 9
validus, 4

Spikerush, Blunt, 9

Threesquare, Common, 8
Olney, 8
Torrey, 9

Websteria submersa, 17

Woolgrass, 15

19

*US GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE I 965 0 — T76-T4S

NOTES

MBL WHOI Library - Serials

5 WHSE 00244

The Department of the Interior, created in 1849, is a
Department of Conservation, concerned with management, conser-
vation, and development of the Nation's water, wildlife, fish,
mineral, forest, and park and recreational resources. It has
major responsibilities also for Indian and Territorial affairs.

As America's principal conservation agency, the Department
works to assure that nonrenewable resources are developed and
used wisely, that park and recreational resources are con-
served for the future, and that renewable resources make their
full contribution to the progress, prosperity, and security of
the United States, now and in the future.

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