The plantgenusScirpus consists of a large number of aquatic, grass-like species in the family Cyperaceae (the sedges), many with the common names club-rush or bulrush (see also bulrush for other plants so-named).
Scirpusspecies are often planted to inhibit soil erosion and provide habitat for other wildlife.
They are also used in some herbal remedies; the plant'srhizomes are colleced in the autumn and winter and dried in the sun before use.
Scirpus longii is a robust, perennial sedge that forms dense, leafy tussocks, with stems growing up to 1.5 m tall.
Scirpus longii is found from southwestern Nova Scotia to the Pine Barrens of southern New Jersey.
Scirpus longii is known from 9 stations in Nova Scotia (Hill 1994); 10 populations in Maine (Rawinski 2001); 1 site in New Hampshire (Sperduto and McCarthy 1993); 13+ sites in Massachusetts (one said to contain the world's largest population at several thousand stems [Rawinski 2001]); and 30+ sites in New Jersey (NatureServe 2001).
Scirpus hybrids are usually sterile, or at least show greatly reduced fertility.
In addition, their spikelets are often more elongate than the spikelets of the parent species; this is probably a result of low seed sets, because growth of the spikelet is not halted as nutrition is diverted to developing seeds.
Some species of Scirpus are weedy, and their small achenes are well adapted for accidental transport by humans.
Components of the surface energy balance were measured using the Bowen ratio-energy balance method in three different communities (Phragmites australis, Scirpus acutus, and open water) in a wetland located in north-central Nebraska during the growing season of 1994.
As compared to the evapotranspiration (ET) from Phragmites and Scirpus, the evaporation (E) from open water (averaged over the measurement period) was about 25% smaller during daytime and three times larger during the night.
The diurnal pattern of ET in Phragmites and Scirpus generally followed that of R-n The diurnal pattern of the open water E, however., did not follow R-n; rather, it seemed to depend on thermal stability conditions and air dryness.
Diel Methane Emission Patterns from Scirpus lacustris and Phragmites australis, Netherlands Institute of Ecology.
In mature Phragmites australis and Scirpus lacustris vegetated sediment methane was emitted almost exclusively by plant-mediated transport, whereas in unvegetated, but otherwise identical sediment, methane was emitted almost exclusively by ebullition.
Decrease of the radial resistance of Scirpus stems for methane transport under light compared to dark conditions, in combination with morphological characteristics of the plantspecies, suggested that stomatal aperture, regulated by light, controls methane emission from Scirpus.
The speciesScirpus georgianus has 0-3 bristles surrounding its achenes and its spikelets are oblongoid in shape; Dark Green Bulrush normally has 6 bristles and its spikelets are more ovoid in shape.
The speciesScirpus hattorianus has leaves and bracts that lack cross-venation and its bristles are shorter than the achene; Dark Green Bulrush has septate foliage and its bristles are about the same length as the achene.
The speciesScirpus microcarpus has sheaths that are reddish at the base and 4 bristles surrounding its achenes; Dark Green Bulrush has green sheaths and 6 bristles surrounding its achenes.
Stems triangular, at least above, grows in shallow water, seeds, roots, and stems important food for mammals and birds that frequent these areas.
Scirpus californicus tolerates full sun, part sun, no drainage,and seasonal flooding.
Scirpus californicus's foliage color is Green, and type is NA.
www.laspilitas.com /plants/1211.htm (241 words)
Amazon.com: Effect of Scirpus mariqueter vegetation on salt marsh benthic macrofaunal community of the Changjiang ...(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-09)
Amazon.com: Effect of Scirpus mariqueter vegetation on salt marsh benthic macrofaunal community of the Changjiang estuary.
Effect of Scirpus mariqueter vegetation on salt marsh benthic macrofaunal community of the Changjiang estuary.
Benthic macrofaunal community structure was related to vegetation and sediment properties along a low to high marsh elevationai gradient in Scirpus rnariqueter marsh on the eastern coast of Chongming Island in the Changjiang estuary, China.
The vegetation is dominated by Scirpus cyperinus, or at least with substantial cover of this species.
The habitat of this alliance may have a pronounced seasonal fluctuation in water level, becoming saturated to ponded in the winter and often drying completely in the summer.
The vegetation may consist of monospecific clumps of the component species, either scattered in the marsh or around the pond margin.
SIMILAR SPECIES: Non-flowering plants are very similar to several other types of submersed or emergent aquatics, and particularly to Scirpus pungens and S.
Koyama, T. The genusScirpus Linn.: some North American aphylloid species.
Schuyler, A.E. Morphological and anatomical differences in leaf blades of three North American aquatic bulrushes (Cyperaceae: Scirpus).
Scirpus acutus (hardstem bulrush) and Scirpus tabernaemontani (softstem bulrush)
Hardstem and softstem bulrushes are tall, stout, perennial plants with round, olive green stems, drooping brown flower clusters near the stem tips, and a few inconspicuous leaves at the stem bases.
They are often difficult to distinguish because they can form hybrids.
Susan, your question is based in a general confusion of the different types of marshplants, which get lumped together as tules, or cattails or reeds.
Cattails are a separate family all their own and reeds usually refers to large grasses such as phragmites, although an unrelated cattail-like plant is called Burreed.
I would use reeds to mean phragmites, and tule or bulrush to mean Scirpus spp.
