Reddish Bulrush (Scirpus pendulus)
- Family: Sedge (Cyperaceae)
- Flowering: May-August.
- Field Marks: Two or more bracts subtend the inflorescence. The spikelets are up to 2 inches long.
- Habitat: Along streams, around ponds and lakes, wet prairies, wet meadows.
- Habit: Perennial herb with short, thick rhizomes.
- Stems: Erect, smooth, up to 4 feet tall.
- Leaves: Elongated, narrow, up to 1/3 inch broad; sheath with purple speckles.
- Flowers: Many borne in spikelets; the spikelets red-brown, broadly lanceoloid, up to 1/2 inch long, borne on long, drooping stalks.
- Scales: Broadly lanceolate, tapering to a short point.
- Sepals: 0.
- Petals: 0.
- Stamens: 3.
- Pistils: Ovary superior.
- Fruits: Achenes brown, shiny, ellipsoid, about 1/20 inch long.
- Notes: In the past, this species was sometimes known as Scirpus lineatus. This species does not occur in the western United States, as the National Wetlands Inventory indicates.
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