Schoenoplectus acutus var. occidentalis

Common tule, Common Tule

Family: Cyperaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Common tule is a native perennial found in California (excluding eastern desert regions) in marshes, shores, fens, and shallow lakes at elevations below 2,500 meters. Flowering during summer, this plant produces small clustered spikelets 6 to 18 millimeters long with sparse woolly-edged flower bracts. Growing to heights of 1 to 4 meters with a long rhizome, it features thick cylindrical stems 2 to 10 millimeters in diameter with wide air cavities in the upper quarter. Its sparse leaf blades are 3 to 7 millimeters wide, significantly shorter than the plant's sheath, which splits and leaves behind fibrous remnants. The fruit is smooth, two to three millimeters long, and develops with two to three stigmas.

Habitat: Common. Marshes, shores, fens, shallow lakes, often emergent

Bloom period: Summer

Elevation: < 2500 m

Bioregions: CA (exc e D)

California counties: San Bernardino, Riverside, Los Angeles, Mono, San Diego, Butte, Del Norte, Fresno, Humboldt, Kern, Lake, Lassen, Modoc, Monterey, Plumas, San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Shasta, Siskiyou, Solano, Sutter, Ventura, Yolo, Sacramento, Inyo, El Dorado, Nevada, Tulare, Contra Costa, Napa, Mendocino, Marin, Sonoma, Alameda, Sierra, Madera, Merced, San Francisco, Colusa, San Mateo, Kings, Tuolumne, Orange, Santa Cruz, Yuba, Placer, Tehama, Glenn, Trinity

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