FIELD ID CHARACTERISTICS:
Stem may be round or weakly triangular, especially near base. Underside of leaf sheaths purple-spotted.
Synonym(s): Scirpus eriophorum, Scirpus rubricosus
Description: Medium to tall, erect, perennial, grass-like plant, usually 2 m tall, growing in dense clumps.
Leaves: Simple, linear leaves starting as sheaths, then extending away from stem, and drooping at the tips, up to 60 cm long. Edges rough to the touch.
Flowers/Fruit: Loose branching umbel with long flexible stalks holding brownish flowering spikelets, to 15 cm long. Rust-colored spikelets numerous; bristles much longer than seeds. Fruiting inflorescence in maturity appears wooly. Flowers and fruits July to October.
Habit and Range: One of the most common Scirpus species. Found statewide in sunny freshwater marshes, wet meadows, beaver ponds, river shores, swamp openings, ditches, powerline clearings.
COMMON CONFUSIONS:
Scirpus cyperinus (woolgrass bulrush) is similar to Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani (softstem bulrush), but Scirpus cyperinus has a clump of basal leaves. Inflorescence of Scirpus cyperinus is similar to Scirpus expansus (woodland bulrush) in the Mountains, which has pronounced reddish lower sheaths and short seed bristles.
Click here to view Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani.
Click here to view Scirpus expansus.
Link to side-by-side comparisons page
