Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

PENDANT BULRUSH

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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