Drooping Bulrush

Authors prior to 1966 incorrectly applied the name Scirpus lineatus to plants of S. pendulus and treated plants of S. lineatus as S. fontinalis (A. E. Schuyler 1966).

Plants cespitose; rhizomes short, stout. Culms: fertile ones lax, reclining, inflorescences lopping over to (or nearly to) ground; nodes sometimes with axillary bulblets. Leaves 4–9 per culm; sheaths of proximal leaves whitish; proximal sheaths and blades with septa few, inconspicuous; blades 18–32 cm × 6–13 mm. Inflorescences terminal and axillary in 2–3 distal leaves; rays ascending or divergent, rays and pedicels scabrous or scabrellous throughout or sometimes only in distal 1/2, rays often bearing axillary bulblets; bases of involucral bracts green, not glutinous. Spikelets in open cymes, central spikelet of each cyme sessile, others long-pedicellate, spikelets ovoid, narrowly ovoid, or narrowly ellipsoid, 4–7(–10) × 2–3 mm; scales brown to red-brown with green midribs, ovate to narrowly elliptic, 1.8–2.5 mm, apex mucronate, mucro 0.1–0.3 mm. Flowers: perianth bristles persistent, 6, slender, much longer than achene, strongly contorted and not or scarcely projecting beyond it, smooth, enclosed within scales or scarcely projecting beyond them; styles 3-fid. Achenes pale brown, elliptic in outline, plano-convex or plumply trigonous, 1.1–1.5 × 0.6–0.7 mm. 2n = 36.

Ala., Fla., Ga., La., Miss., N.C., S.C., Va.

Fruiting late spring–early summer (May–Jun).

Usually along wooded streams, often associated with calcareous substrates; 0–100m.

Scirpus fontinalis R. M. Harper

Scirpus lineatus Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 1: 32. 1803
Trichophorum ? lineatum Pers. Syn. Pi. 1: 69. 1805. Scirpus pendulus Muhl. Descr. Gram. 44. 1817. Trichophorum pendulum Muhl. Descr. Gram. 44, as syn. 1817. Isolepis lineata R. & S. Syst. Veg. 2: 117. 1817. Scirpus brizoides Link, Jahrb. Gewachsk. I 3 : 80. 1820. Scirpus Drummondii Steud. Syn. Cyp. 318. 1855. Eriophorum lineatum Benth. & Hook. Gen. PI. 3: 1052. 1883. Scirpus lineatus habereri House, Bull. N. Y. State Mus. 176: 38. 1915. Scirpus lineatus f. elongatus Eames, Rhodora 33: 168. 1931.
Perennial with fibrous roots; culms 0.5-1.5 m. high, single, erect from a slightly swollen base, obtusely trigonous, smooth; leaves mostly to 0.5 mm. broad, linear, flat, pale green, stiff, scabrous on the margins and midrib, the basal sheaths persistent, dark brown, the upper green, smooth, the margin of the orifice truncate, hyaline; involucral bract often single, occasionally 2 or 3, leaflike, to 8 cm. long, 4 mm. broad, green or pale brown at the base, the involucels pale brown, scalelike; umbels terminal and sometimes axillary, loose, 0.5-2 dm. high, subsecund, the involucre much shorter than the long, slender, ascending, nodding-tipped rays; spikelets 0.5-1 cm. long, oblong becoming cylindric, on thread-like, drooping, scabrous pedicels, the primary pedicels to 10 cm. long, the secondary to 5 cm. long, the tertiary to 2 cm. long; scales ca. 2 mm. long, ovate, with pale brown margins and broad, green midrib, pointed, the tips ascending; style trifid, reddish; bristles light brown, elongate; achene ca. 1 mm. long, light brown, firm, trigonous, obovate, prominently apiculate.
Type locality: "In Carolina."
Distribution: Wet places at low altitudes; Maine and Ontario, south to Florida, westward to Iowa and Texas.

Scirpus fontinalis Harper, Bull Torrey Club 30: 322. 1903.
Scirpus fontinalis var. virginiana Fernald, Rhodora 41: 532. 1939.
Stoloniferous perennial; culms tufted, 12-18 dm. long, triangular at least below, smooth, the summits very slender and nodding; basal leaves few, 3-4 dm. long, 3-10 mm. broad; cauline leaves few or several, 0.8-1.3 cm. broad, 1-3 dm. long, scabrous on the margins and midrib, ascending or almost appressed, slender and acute; involucral bracts 1 or 2, leaflike, to 6 cm. long, the involucels scalelike; inflorescence a compound umbel, axillary and terminal, unequalrayed, the 1-4 lateral umbels with spikelets on slender, flattened, drooping peduncles 1-3 dm. long, in the terminal umbels the primary rays to 10 cm. long, rather smooth, the secondary to 4.5 cm. long, scabrous, the tertiary to 2 cm. long, strongly scabrous; spikelets often viviparous, pedicellate, to 5 mm. long, 2-3 mm. broad, oblong when young, their axes elongating as the lower scales drop but exceeding 5 mm. in length only in extreme maturity; scales 1.5-2.5 mm. long, oblong, acute, the broad, green keel mucronate, somewhat reflexed, the margins reddish ; bristles 6, smooth, tortuous; style trifid, reddish; achene 1-1.5 mm. long, light brown, oblong, triquetrous, covered with minute, depressed, conical papillae, prominently beaked.
Type locality: Leslie, Sumter County, Georgia.
Distribution : Calcareous soils ; on the coastal plain from Virginia to Florida, west to Louisiana.