Scirpus robustus Pursh   =S. paludosus   =S. campestris                     Cyperaceae (Sedge Family)                 Cosmopolitan                                Salt Marsh Bulrush                               Bull Tule                            Coastal Bulrush

                                           July Photo

Plant Characteristics:  Perennial with horizontal tuber-forming rhizomes; culms erect, sharply triangular, 5-15 dm. tall; leaves typically 4-6 mm. wide, sometimes to 15 mm. wide, sheaths clearly veined at top; invol. leaves 2-5 unequal, to 30 cm. long; infl. capitate, or with one to several elongated rays; spikelets ovate, 1-2.5 cm. long, sometimes cylindric, to 4 cm. long; scales reddish brown to pale straw brown; bristles 1-6, half as long as the ak. which is lenticular and 3-4 mm. long.

Habitat:  Common, Coastal Salt Marsh, Freshwater Marsh, Alkali Sink, etc. below 2000 feet; desert and cismontane; to n. Calif., most of N. Am., Argentina.  April-Aug.

Name:  Latin, scirpus, the classical name.  (Munz, Flora So. Calif. 902).  Latin, robustus, strong, robust.  (Jaeger 223).

General:  Very common in the study area.  Photographed along Back Bay Dr. and at 23rd Street.  One of the native halophytes found in Upper Newport Bay.  (my comments).    Indians favored the sweet roots of Bulrush for grinding into flower.  The Cahuillas, Indians of the San Bernardino Mountains and the Colorado Desert, gathered and ate the seeds raw or made them into mush.  Indians made cakes of the pollen and used the stalks to weave bedding, matting and roofing materials.  Bulrushes are sweeter than cattails, generally, and may be used in the same ways; leading shoots that will be next year's plant stems are good raw or cooked.  Many water birds eat the seeds.  (Clarke 142-143).       The Kawaiisu, Indians of the upper Mojave Desert, used the dark-colored portion of the roots of the Joshua tree for pattern elements.  A brown color, lighter than the Joshua tree root came from the root of Scirpus robustus.  The inner root was split into strands and coiled as pattern material in the same manner as the Joshua tree root.  (Campbell 108).     Hybridizes often with S. maritimus.  (Hickman, Ed. 1148).       For additional information on the Bulrushes see S. americanus and S. californicus.  (my comment).

Text Ref:  Hickman, Ed. 1148; Munz, Calif. Flora 1416; Munz, Flora So. Calif. 903; Roberts 43.

Photo Ref:  Feb-Mar 83 # 10,11; June 5 83 # 7; Aug 85 # 11; June-Aug 98 # 13.

Identity: by R. De Ruff.

First Found:  March 1983.

Computer Ref:  Plant Data 27.

Have plant specimen.

Last edit 6/8/04.  

                      August Photo                                                    March Photo