Photo © Carl Farmer |
Very rare in or beside fresh water, or in wet ground. Quite plentiful in the British Isles generally, often growing with Common Reed. Plant to 3 m tall. Dark brown female flower spike c 18-30 mm wide. Leaves c 10-18 mm wide. Skye ID: Has a slender straw-coloured male spike above a sturdy dark brown sausage-shaped female spike, without a gap between them, or with a gap of up to 2 cm on a minority of stems. If there is a gap of > 2 cm and the female spike is narrow, more like a pencil than a sausage, then we have Lesser Bulrush (T angustifolia) which has been recorded from the area in the past, but not seen since 1969, and the records seem doubtful unless it was planted. Other features: Leaves long, narrow, Iris-like, overtopping the flower spikes. The spikes flower in July-August and then gradually break up over the winter to release thousands of Dandelion-like feathery seeds. |
