• You are here:
• Full Key
• Grass-like plants
• All other grass-like plants
• Schoenoplectus etuberculatus

Schoenoplectus etuberculatus — Canby's bulrush

Facts

Canby's bulrush, a wetland plant of the coastal plain, enters New England only via a single population, located in southern Rhode Island. This is unusual because it is more than two hundred and fifty miles from the next population in Delaware. It occurs on pond shores and marshes along the coastal plain.

Habitat

Brackish or salt marshes and flats, fresh tidal marshes or flats, marshes, shores of rivers or lakes

Characteristics

• Flowers

  Anther length

  3–3.5 mm

  Floral bristle color

  the bristles are slightly or strongly colored with reddish brown

  Floral bristle number

  5-7

  Floral bristle relative length

  the bristles are between one tenth as long as the achene, and equal in length to the achene

  Floral bristles

  the bristles are straight or slightly curved

  Floral scale hairs

  the floral scales have hairs on them

  Floral scale length

  5–7 mm

  Floral scale nerves

  • 2-5
  • 7 or more

  Floral scale shape

  • the floral scales are lanceolate (widest below the middle, and tapering at both ends)
  • the floral scales are ovate (roughly egg-shaped)

  Floral scale translucent

  the floral scales are opaque

  Inflorescence bract angle

  the bracts are vertical or angled only slightly outwards

  Inflorescence bract number

  there are two to five bracts per inflorescence

  Inflorescence bract position (Sparganium)

  NA

  Inflorescence bracts

  there is only one bract, and it looks like a continuation of the stem

  Inflorescence branching

  the inflorescence is branched

  Inflorescence crowding

  the inflorescence is at least somewhat spread out, with at least one branch coming from the main stem

  Inflorescence position

  the inflorescence appears to come from the side of the plant because the involucral bract at its base looks like an extension of the main stem

  Inflorescence shape

  the aggregations within the inflorescence are roughly circular (not flattened) in cross-section

  Inflorescence type

  there are two or more flowers, spikes or flower clusters on a branched inflorescence

  Perianth composition

  there are bristles attached at the base of the achene

  Stamen number

  3

  Stigma number

  3

  Style division

  the top two thirds of the style is divided

  floral bristle barbs

  the bristles have tiny barbs on them

  plantlets budding at flower bases

  no

• Fruits or seeds

  Achene beak length

  0.7–2 mm

  Achene surface texture

  the achene is smooth (it has no detectable texture)

  Achene tubercle relative width

  NA

  Achene tubercle width

  0 mm

  Capsule relative length

  NA

  Fruit cross-section

  the fruit is triangular to terete (circular) in cross-section

  Fruit length

  3–4.5 mm

  Fruit type (general)

  the fruit is like a seed, and surrounded by scales

  Fruit type (specific)

  the fruit is an achene (dry, seed-like fruit) without a tubercle (a swelling or projection, usually of a different color or texture)

  Locules in capsule

  NA

  Seed length

  0 mm

  Seed tail relative length

  0 mm

  Seed tails

  NA

  Tubercle height

  0 mm

• Growth form

  Lifespan

  the plant lives more than two years

  Rhizome thickness

  1–3 mm

  Underground organs

  the plant has a rhizome (a horizontal underground stem with roots growing from it)

• Leaves

  Auricle length

  0 mm

  Auricle texture

  NA

  Auricles

  there are no auricles on the leaf sheath

  Leaf blade cross-section

  • the leaf blade is flat or rolled in at the edges
  • the leaf blade is triangular in cross-section

  Leaf blade length

  Up to 80 mm

  Leaf blade width

  2–10 mm

  Leaf form

  all the leaves hold their form out of water

  Leaf position on plant

  the attachment points of all the leaves are at or near the base of the plant

  Leaf septa

  the leaf blades do not have transverse septa

  Leaf sheath hairs

  the leaf sheathes are without hairs

  Pedicel length (Typha)

  0 mm

  Stem leaf blade ligules

  the plant has ligules at the leaf blade bases

  Stem leaf blades

  • there are fully-developed leaves with leaf blades on the main stem
  • there are no leaves on the main stem, or there is a small tooth or tiny blade, or a leaf sheath with no blade

• Place

  Habitat

  • aquatic
  • wetlands

  New England state

  Rhode Island

  Specific habitat

  • brackish or salt marshes and flats
  • fresh tidal marshes or flats
  • marshes
  • shores of rivers or lakes

• Stem, shoot, branch

  Plant height

  60–200 cm

  Stem shape in cross-section

  the stem is roughly triangular in cross-section

  Stem texture near tip

  the stem feels smooth near the tip

  Stem thickness at midpoint

  1–10 mm

Wetland status

Occurs only in wetlands. (Wetland indicator code: OBL)

New England distribution and conservation status

From the dichotomous key of Flora Novae Angliae