Bolboschoenus maritimus subsp. paludosus

Saltmarsh bulrush, alkali bulrush, Alkali Bulrush

Family: Cyperaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Saltmarsh bulrush is a native perennial found throughout California (excluding the California and Sierra Nevada Ranges) in brackish to saline coastal and inland marshes at elevations up to 2,900 meters. Flowering during summer, this plant produces yellow-anthered flowers in compact clusters with spikelets 7 to 40 millimeters long. Growing up to 150 centimeters tall with stems 3 to 8 millimeters in diameter, it forms dense clumps in wet environments. Its leaves have distinctive triangular, membranous sheaths and blades 2 to 12 millimeters wide, with transparent, membranous flower bracts. The fruit is uniquely adapted to aquatic environments, developing as a small, two-sided structure that floats on water and is 2.3 to 4.1 millimeters long.

Habitat: Common in California. Brackish to saline coastal, inland marshes, shores

Bloom period: Summer

Elevation: < 2900 m

Bioregions: CA (exc CaR, SN)

California counties: Ventura, Kern, Riverside, Los Angeles, Orange, Imperial, San Bernardino, Inyo, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, San Diego, Solano, Humboldt, Sonoma, Santa Barbara, Butte, San Mateo, Marin, Fresno, Merced, Glenn, Kings, Lassen, Contra Costa, Colusa, Siskiyou, Napa, Modoc, Del Norte, San Joaquin, Alameda, Mendocino, Yolo, Tehama, Placer, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tulare

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