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Chairmaker's bulrush

Schoenoplectus americanus

Also called American bulrush, Olney's bulrush, Swordgrass, Threesquare bulrush, American Three Square Bulrush, Bulrush, Chair Maker's Rush

Chairmaker's bulrush
Photo: Gordon Leppig & Andrea J. Pickart, Public domain

Chairmaker's bulrush is a tall perennial sedge native to the Americas that spreads by rhizomes and grows in wetlands and salt marshes. It is grown mainly for wetland restoration and pond or bog planting, and it needs consistently wet roots.

Family
Cyperaceae (Cyper family)
Grows as
Grass
Light
Full sun, Part shade
Water
Keep roots constantly wet or submerged in shallow water.
Soil
Moist, fertile mud or loam, or wetland substrate.
Temperature
Hardy in temperate climates, roughly -20 to 35 °C; protect rhizomes from prolonged freezing if grown in pots.
How easy
Easy
Native range
New Zealand, N. & C. America, Caribbean, NW. Venezuela to Argentina
Climate
temperate

About

Schoenoplectus americanus (syn. Scirpus americanus) is an American species of flowering plant in the sedge family known by the common names chairmaker's bulrush and Olney's three-square bulrush.

Where it grows

It is native to the Americas, where it is known from Alaska to Nova Scotia and all the way into southern South America; it is most common along the East and Gulf Coasts of the United States and in parts of the western states. It grows in many types of coastal and inland wetland habitat, as well as sagebrush, desert scrub, chaparral, and plains.

Uses

Native American groups used this plant for many purposes, including food, basketry, and hatmaking. It is used for revegetation projects in salt marsh habitat in its native range. It is a model organism in the study of salt marsh ecology and its response to climate change (currently global warming).

Other Schoenoplectus plants

Hardstem bulrush · California bulrush · Common threesquare · Swaying bulrush · Grey Club-rush

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Schoenoplectus americanus by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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