Stalked bulrush
Prepared by Jennifer L. D’Appollonio, Assistant Scientist, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469. Updated February 2018.
Scientific name: Scirpus pedicellatus Fernald
Common name(s): stalked bulrush, stalked woolgrass, stalked woolsedge
Link(s): USDA PLANTS Profile, NPIN Profile, Go Botany
Images: (to see enlargements [PC]: click on image, then right click and choose “view image”)
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- end of May with last year’s inflorescence
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- last year’s inflorescence
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- early inflorescence emergence, July
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- fully expanded inflorescence, July
Description:
– perennial
-dense tussocks
– appears woolly when fully mature/later in the season
– each spikelet has its own pedicel (“stem”)
-the base of the inflorescence is brown “girdled”
-The perianth bristles usually have downward-pointing teeth, are twisted and tangled, or both
– often confused with S. cyperinus (woolgrass) and/or S. atrocinctus (black bulrush); see left sidebar on Go Botany webpage
Habitat:
-marshes
-bogs
-meadows and fields
-shores of rivers
Sources:
Go Botany. “Genus: Scirpus.” Genus: Scirpus (Bulrush): Go Botany, 2021, gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/genus/scirpus/.
Acknowledgement(s):
Eric T. Doucette, Ph.D. – Assistant Professor of Biology, MA College of Liberal Arts, North Adams, MA (updated Feb 2018)