PLANTS WITH APPARENTLY LEAFLESS, ROUNDED STEMS, AND OPEN HEADS 

 grow from knee-high to twice as tall as a man, and usually stand close 

 together in colonies on wet ground or as much as waist-deep in fresh, 

 brackish and alkali water. The stems of the bulrushes are several 

 times as thick at the bottom as at the top. When mature, these stems 

 are topped with an open head of few to many, oval or oblong spikelets 

 that are 1/4 to 3/4 inch long. The ripe seeds are deep-gray and 

 about 1/16 inch long. Needlerush and Soft Rush stems are only a 

 little thicker at the bottom than at the top. When mature, their 

 stems have a many-flowered head far below the top. The brownish or 

 greenish flowers are less than 1/4 inch long, and their ripe pods are 

 filled with brown seeds the size of fine sand. 



