Schoenoplectus saximontanus

Rocky mountain bulrush, Rocky Mountain Bulrush

Family: Cyperaceae · Type: annual · Native

Rocky mountain bulrush is a California native annual found in the San Joaquin Valley, southern Coast Ranges, western Transverse Ranges, and Peninsular Ranges in fresh shoreline and pond habitats at elevations below 2,200 meters. Flowering during summer, this plant produces small, clustered spikelets 6 to 20 millimeters long in head-like clusters. Growing with thin cylindrical stems 1 to 60 centimeters tall, it has short, mostly inconspicuous rhizomes. Its leaves are narrow, with blades 1 to 200 millimeters long and less than 1 millimeter wide, positioned at the base and occasionally along the stem. The fruit is small and sharp-sided, approximately 1.3 to 1.9 millimeters long with distinctive wavy transverse ridges.

Habitat: Rare in California. Fresh shores, ponds, often drying, often sandy

Bloom period: Summer

Elevation: < 2200 m

Bioregions: SnJV, SCoRO, WTR, PR

California counties: Kern, Riverside, Ventura, San Luis Obispo, Fresno, Los Angeles

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