PENDANT BULRUSH
File Size: 89 KB
 
Scirpus pendulus  Muhl.
Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas
Perennial
Height: 1-5 feet
Family: Cyperaceae - Sedge Family
Flowering Period:   May, June, July
Also Called: Nodding bulrush, reddish bulrush.
Culms: Erect, slender, firm, triangular.
Leaves: 5-10, flat, to 1/3 inch wide, firm, pale green, widely separated on culms; margins rough.
Inflorescences: Umbel-like, 6 to 8 inches long, consisting of 1 terminal, sessile cluster of spikelets and several slender-stalked spikelets at ends of umbel rays that frequently droop at maturity; bracts several, leaf-like, brownish.
Spikelets: Numerous, oblong-cylindric, to 2/5 inch long, turning reddish brown with age; flowers perfect; scales ovate, light brown; midribs prominent, green; tips pointed; bristles 6, at bases of flowers, pale, nearly glabrous, about twice as long as achenes; stamens 3; styles 3-cleft.
Fruits: Achenes, oblong, pale brown, short beaked, 1-seeded.
Habitat: Marshy or swampy areas, damp prairies and meadows, edges of streams and ponds, and wet ditches.
Distribution: East 2/3 of Kansas.
Uses: Waterfowl eat the seeds.
Comments: Pendant bulrush tends to grow in loose colonies.

Pendant bulrush spikelets and scales
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Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas
Pendant bulrush inflorescence
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Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, Chase County, Kansas
Pendant bulrush spikelets
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Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, Chase County, Kansas
Pendant bulrush leaves
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Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, Chase County, Kansas
Pendant bulrush
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Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas
Pendant bulrush inflorescence
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Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas
Pendant bulrush leaf
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Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas
Pendant bulrush inflorescence
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Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas