PLANTS WITH ALMOST LEAFLESS, THREE-CORNERED OR ROUNDED STEMS, AND 

 TIGHT HEADS include the threesquares which come up each year from long- 

 lived rootstocks and the clumped bulrushes which come up each year from 

 seed. The threesquares usually stand close together--but not in clumps 

 --in colonies that are knee-high to taller than a man, on wet ground or 

 as much as knee-deep in fresh, brackish and alkali water. When mature, 

 the stems have a tight head of a few oval or oblong spikelets on one 

 side a little below the top. The spikelets are 1/4 to 3/4 inch long; 

 the ripe seeds are brownish and from 1/16 to more than 1/8 inch long. 

 Bluntscale Bulrush and Sharpscale Bulrush have seed heads similar to 

 those of the threesquares, but their rounded stems grow in clumps that 

 are usually less than knee-high, on wet ground or in no more than a few 

 inches of fresh, brackish and alkali water. The spikelets are 1/8 to 

 3/4 inch long; the ripe seeds are blackish and about 1/16 inch long. 

 Blunt Spikerush clumps are similar; but its mature stems have a single, 

 oval or oblong seed head at the very top. Several other kinds of 

 spikerush, looking only a little different, can be told apart by their 

 seeds (see pages 252 to 259 in the eighth edition of Gray's Manual). 



