PLANTS WITH LEAFY, THREE-CORNERED STEMS, AND HEADS WITH MANY 

 SMALL SPIKELETS grow from knee-high to as tall as a man, standing 

 singly or in clumps, close together or scattered, on wet ground or in 

 a few inches of fresh water. The bluntly or sharply three-cornered 

 stems have several long, flattish leaves that are a little wider than 

 the stems. Mature stems are topped with a usually open head of 100 to 

 1000 oval or oblong spikelets that are 1/8 to 1/4 inch long. The ripe 

 seeds are yellowish and 1/16 inch long, or shorter. Stems and foliage 

 of leafy, big-spikeleted bulrushes and a few kinds of carex are 

 similar, but their heads are very different. 



BLACK BULRUSH 

 (Scirpus atrovirens; 

 includes georgianus and 

 pallidus) 



Landward edges of 

 fresh marshes from 

 Washington to Newfound- 

 land, Arizona, Texas 

 and Georgia. 



Mature seed heads 

 are not droopy or 

 woolly, and are dull- 

 brown to greenish-black. 



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