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• Schoenoplectus pungens

Schoenoplectus pungens — three-square club-bulrush

Facts

There are three varieties of three-square bulrush in North America, but only this one occurs in New England, favoring lake and river shores, fens and marshes. The northern Paiute ground the seeds into flour for cooking.

Habitat

Brackish or salt marshes and flats, fens, floodplain (river or stream floodplains), fresh tidal marshes or flats, marshes, shores of rivers or lakes

Characteristics

• Flowers

  Anther length

  2–3 mm

  Floral bristle color

  the bristles are pale brown to brown

  Floral bristle number

  • 1-4
  • 5-7
  • 8 or more

  Floral bristle relative length

  • the bristles are between one tenth as long as the achene, and equal in length to the achene
  • there are no bristles, or they are very tiny (less than one tenth as long as the achene)

  Floral bristles

  the bristles are straight or slightly curved

  Floral scale hairs

  the floral scales have hairs on them

  Floral scale length

  3.5–6 mm

  Floral scale nerves

  1

  Floral scale shape

  the floral scales are ovate (roughly egg-shaped)

  Floral scale translucent

  the floral scales are translucent

  Inflorescence bract angle

  the bracts are vertical or angled only slightly outwards

  Inflorescence bract number

  • there are two to five bracts per inflorescence
  • there is just one bract on the 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 on one or more stems with no branches

  Inflorescence crowding

  the inflorescence is crowded together in one tight cluster

  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
  • there is one spike or raceme at the tip of the stem

  Perianth composition

  there are bristles attached at the base of the achene

  Stamen number

  3

  Stigma number

  • 2
  • 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

  0.1–0.5 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 biconvex or elliptic (widest in the middle and tapering to both ends) in cross-section
  • the fruit is lenticular (lens-shaped) in cross-section
  • the fruit is triangular to terete (circular) in cross-section

  Fruit length

  2–3.5 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

  1–6 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

  Leaf blade length

  50–750 mm

  Leaf blade width

  2–9 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

• Place

  Habitat

  • aquatic
  • wetlands

  New England state

  • Connecticut
  • Maine
  • Massachusetts
  • New Hampshire
  • Rhode Island
  • Vermont

  Specific habitat

  • brackish or salt marshes and flats
  • fens
  • fresh tidal marshes or flats
  • marshes
  • river or stream floodplains
  • shores of rivers or lakes

• Stem, shoot, branch

  Plant height

  10–200 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

  1–6 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