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California bulrush

Schoenoplectus californicus

Also called Giant Bulrush, Southern Bulrush, California Club Rush, California Bulsedge

California bulrush
Photo: No machine-readable author provided. Curtis Clark assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY-SA 2.5

A rhizomatous sedge that grows in shallow water and marshy edges, used for boats, mats and floating islands in its native range. Keep its roots wet or submerged and give it full sun.

Family
Cyperaceae (Cyper family)
Grows as
Grass
Light
Full sun
Water
Keep roots constantly wet, standing in shallow water or saturated mud.
Soil
Heavy mud or garden soil kept saturated; a pond-margin or bog mix.
Temperature
10–30 °C; tolerates light frost but is damaged by hard freezes.
How easy
Easy
Native range
Easter I., C. & S. U.S.A. to C. America, Ecuador to Argentina
Climate
subtropical

About

Schoeneoplectus californicus is a species of sedge known by the common names California bulrush, southern bulrush and giant bulrush. It is also sometimes called "tule", but the closely related Schoenoplectus acutus is the species most often referred to by that name.

Uses

A notable subspecies is the totora, Schoenoplectus californicus subsp. tatora. This is famous for making up the floating islands on which the Uros people of Lake Titicaca dwell, as well as occurring on isolated Easter Island in the Pacific.

Other Schoenoplectus plants

Hardstem bulrush · Chairmaker's bulrush · Common threesquare · Swaying bulrush · Grey Club-rush

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Schoenoplectus californicus 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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