Bolboschoenus fluviatilis

River bulrush

Family: Cyperaceae · Type: perennial · Native

River bulrush is a native perennial found in northern California coastal regions, northern Sierra Nevada, Sacramento Valley, central Coast, and North Coast Ranges in fresh water marshes at elevations below 1,300 meters. Flowering during summer, this plant produces yellow-anthered flowers in clusters of 10 to 40 spikelets, each 10 to 25 millimeters long. Growing to 1 to 2 meters tall with sturdy stems 5 to 15 millimeters in diameter, it develops robust, upright culms in aquatic environments. Its leaf sheaths are papery and veined, with blade widths ranging from 7 to 22 millimeters, and the leaves emerge from the water with distinctive structural integrity. The fruit is strongly three-sided, 3.8 to 5.5 millimeters long, and uniquely adapted to sink in water, with small, solid wall cells.

Habitat: Uncommon in California. Fresh water marshes

Bloom period: Summer

Elevation: < 1300 m

Bioregions: NCoRI, n SNH, ScV, CCo, MP

California counties: Sutter, Plumas, San Joaquin, Santa Cruz, Lake, Sonoma, Yolo, Alameda, San Mateo, Napa, Butte, Glenn, Modoc, Lassen, San Luis Obispo, Placer, Colusa, Sacramento, Solano, Shasta

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.