Cosmopolitan Bulrush

Scirpus paludosus A. Nelson, Bull. Torrey Club 26: 5. 1899.
Scirpus campestris Britton in Britt. & Brown, 111. Fl. 1: 267. 1896. Not S. campestris Roth, 1795.
Scirpus robustus var. campestris Fernald, Rhodora 2: 241. 1900.
Scirpus robustus var. paludosus Fernald, Rhodora 2: 241. 1900.
Scirpus robustus var. compactus Davy; Jepson, Fl. W. Middle Calif. 88. 1901.
Scirpus interior Britton, Man. ed. 2, 178. 1905.
Scirpus pacificus Britton; Parish, Bull. So. Calif. Acad. 4: 8. 1905.
Scirpus brittonianus Piper, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 11: 157. 1906.
Scirpus campestris var. paludosus Fernald, Rhodora 8: 162. 1906.
Scirpus campestris var. longi-spicatus Bates, Univ. Nebr. Stud. 14: 155. 1914.
Scirpus maritimus var. paludosus Kiikenth. Repert. Sp. Nov. 23: 200. 1926.
Scirpus paludosus var. atlanticus Fernald, Rhodora 45: 291. 1943.
Culms 0.5-1.5 m. tall, erect from smooth, brown, horizontal rhizomes, thickened at the nodes, frequently forming tubers; roots slightly spongy, the secondary rootlets inconspicuous; culms sheathed half their length, sharply trigonous, smooth; leaf-blades 3-5 dm. long, commonly 8 mm. broad, the margins and midrib scabrous at the tip only; bracts of the inflorescence 2-5, leaflike, unequal, the outer to 2 cm. long, the others progressively shorter, the margins and midrib scabrous; inflorescence of 3-many spikelets, 1-2.5 (rarely 3.5) cm. long, 0.5 cm. broad, ovate to cylindric, acute, sessile or umbellate; primary rays to 5 cm. long, smooth; scales ca. 6 nun. long, the midrib prolonged 2 mm. beyond the bifurcate apex, light brown, hairy; bristles 2-6, about half the length of the achene, fragile, minutely barbed; stamens 3; style bifid, 6 mm. long; achene very variable in size, 3-4 mm. long, 2 mm. broad, light to dark brown, ovate, lenticular, apiculate.
Type locality: Granger, Wyoming.
Distribution: Fresh to strongly saline water; Atlantic Coast from New Brunswick to New Jersey, occasionally inland in Quebec and New York; Saskatchewan, south to Texas, west to the Pacific Coast; Hawaiian Islands; Argentina; Australia; the East Indies.